Jason Bush at BusinessWeek has a very interesting piece today:

Mysterious lawsuits targeting prominent financial institutions could become the latest worry for foreign investors in Russia. Earlier this year, Hermitage Capital Management, an investment fund managed by British bank HSBC (HBC), claimed that three of its subsidiaries had been besieged by Russian fraud artists. Hermitage alleged in public statements that a series of bogus suits, based on fake contracts to sell shares, had been filed against the units as part of a scheme to seize ownership of the subsidiaries and reclaim $230 million in taxes previously paid by Hermitage to the Russian government. Russian authorities are investigating these allegations.