Robert Amsterdam is quoted by the American Lawyer blog about the controversy behind the sale of Gazprom Neft assets, which were allegedly illegally seized from Yukos and then sold in a rigged auction to the Italian energy group Eni, only to be passed back into the hands of the state.  Although executives at Eni denied they had any plans to sell the assets back to Gazprom, we speculated on this blog that the group was assisting in “asset laundering” and contributing to the undermining of human rights while helping to legitimize the show trial against political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky.  Eni, as well as Enel, appear to be operating under the orders of the Kremlin ever since the Gazprom MoU with Algeria – at one point they even told Enel CEO Fulvio Conti to cancel a speech.  This week, unfortunately, our predictions were proven correct with Eni-Gazprom transaction for $4.2 billion.

The auction was heavily criticized by Khodorkovsky’s international defense lawyer, Bronx-born Robert Amsterdam of London- and Toronto-based Amsterdam & Peroff, who accused the Italian sister companies of complicity in carving up Khodorkovsky’s company. (The Italian government owns roughly a third of both Eni and Enel.)

“Why state-controlled entities would engage in auctions that are facially fraudulent is beyond me to answer,” Amsterdam told CNBC at the time. “Is there anyone who thinks that the Russians are turning to the rule of law when it comes to energy? What Gazprom gets or wants it will get–or it will change the law and destroy the courts to get it.”