Today the defense team for Mikhail Khodorkovsky is running a letter, bearing the signature of Robert Amsterdam, in the global edition of the Financial Times.  The story has been covered by Dow Jones and some other news outlets.  Below is the full text of the letter.

An open letter to the boards of directors, management, auditors, and shareholders of Rosneft, Gazprom, Eni, Enel, and other purchasers of Yukos assets.

RE: Russia’s obligation to seize your assets?

Beginning in December 2004 with the sham tax auction of Yukos’s main production subsidiary Yuganskneftegaz, management and lawyers and shareholder representatives for major oil companies as well as private investors have had to evaluate the risk of purchasing Yukos assets and, subsequently, the oil produced by one of the prior production subsidiaries. This dilemma continued during the illegitimate Yukos bankruptcy where the receiver liquidated the company’s assets through a series of auctions. Actions for damages resulting from the expropriation of Yukos have been filed by Yukos shareholders, e.g., the Hulley and Yukos Universal Energy Charter Treaty case and minority shareholders under bilateral investment treaty cases, as well as an action filed by ex-Yukos western management before the European Court of Human Rights and defenses asserted in other actions.