News & Updates

The bankruptcy trustee continues to seek recognition and enforcement of Russian court judgements in more than 10 foreign jurisdictions.

Accordingly, there are no legal impediments to proceeding with the enforcement of the decision. At this stage, particular attention is being paid to the enforcement of the judicial acts in jurisdictions where GIL’s assets are located. Consultants interested in assisting with the enforcement process are invited to contact us by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

On July 23, Alphabet Inc. published its financial report for the Q2 of 2026. Despite the fact that the bankruptcy trustee of OOO “Google” has initiated legal proceedings in multiple jurisdictions against Google companies seeking substantial amounts, these proceedings are not mentioned in Alphabet Inc.’s financial statements.

Since 2022, Alphabet Inc. has consistently failed to comply with U.S. disclosure requirements applicable to public companies, including the obligation to disclose material legal proceedings other than those arising in the ordinary course of business (Item 103 of SEC Regulation S-K, 17 C.F.R. § 229.103).

Under Regulation S-K, public companies are required, among other things, to disclose the names of the parties, the factual background of the proceedings, and the relief sought. Nevertheless, Alphabet Inc.’s financial report addresses the Russia-related litigation in a single paragraph, without providing any details of the proceedings: “We have ongoing legal matters relating to Russia. For example, some matters concern civil judgments that include compounding penalties imposed upon us in connection with disputes regarding the termination of accounts, including those of sanctioned parties. We do not expect these ongoing legal matters will have a material adverse effect.”

It is evident that this level of disclosure falls short of the requirements of U.S. securities laws and undermines the rights of Alphabet Inc.’s shareholders and investors to receive complete and accurate information regarding material legal proceedings involving the company.

In early June 2026, interim measures were granted in Belgium as part of the execution of the decision of the Moscow Arbitrazh Court on the recovery of dividends. As a result, assets of Google Belgium totaling EUR 115 million were seized.

On June 1, 2026, the Madrid Court of First Instance confirmed its jurisdiction to consider the application filed by the bankruptcy trustee of OOO "Google" seeking recognition and enforcement of the Russian judgment concerning the recovery of dividends.

A second distribution from the bankruptcy estate was made to satisfy outstanding salary claims of former employees of OOO "Google". In April 2026, former employees received a total of RUB 168,935,636.95.

At the request of the bankruptcy trustee, the Moscow Arbitrazh Court extended the bankruptcy proceedings for a further six months, until October 2026. The court scheduled the bankruptcy trustee’s next report for October 2026. During the hearing, the bankruptcy trustee reported that RUB 14.9 billion had been recovered for the bankruptcy estate since the commencement of the bankruptcy proceedings, including RUB 199.2 million distributed to former employees in satisfaction of outstanding wage claims. Outstanding accounts receivable at the commencement of the bankruptcy proceedings totaled RUB 16.3 billion, of which RUB 15.6 billion remained recoverable. The bankruptcy trustee continues to pursue recoveries, challenge transactions, and settle creditors’ claims.

On February 16, 2026, the Moscow Arbitrazh Court, upon the application of the bankruptcy trustee, declared invalid the excess payments made by OOO "Google" to Google Ireland Limited under the parties’ service agreements. The court found that, between 2018 and 2022, Google Ireland had received more than RUB 160 billion from the Russian subsidiary through a transfer pricing mechanism whose commercial justification Google Ireland’s representatives failed to establish during the proceedings. Of the total award, approximately RUB 101 billion represented unjust enrichment, while RUB 58.6 billion constituted interest for the unlawful use of another party’s funds. In June 2026, the Ninth Arbitrazh Court of Appeal upheld the judgment and dismissed Google Ireland’s appeal.

On December 10, 2025, the competent authorities of the French Republic granted interim measures in support of OOO "Google"’s claims against its parent company, Google International LLC, seeking recovery of dividends. The measures also extended to the accounts receivable of Google France and were intended to prevent the dissipation of assets belonging to the French entity.

The Moscow Arbitrazh Court has once again extended bankruptcy proceedings for six months, with the trustee's next report now scheduled for April 2026. According to Mr. Talyarovsky, since the previous report the inventory of accounts receivable has been completed, and a total of RUB 12.4 billion has been received by the bankruptcy estate. At the same time, the court continues to review applications to challenge transactions and cases seeking to hold former persons who controlled the company subsidiarily liable.

The Moscow Arbitrazh Court granted the bankruptcy trustee's application and prohibited Google Ireland Limited from continuing proceedings before the American Arbitration Association in connection to the bankruptcy of OOO "Google". The court imposed a penalty of more than RUB 65 billion for each violation of this injunction. The ruling followed the court’s finding that Google Ireland had continued parallel proceedings in the United States despite an existing prohibition issued by the Russian court. According to the bankruptcy trustee, Google Ireland’s actions were intended to restrict the trustee’s powers and prejudice the interests of the creditors.

The Supreme Court of Gauteng Province, Republic of South Africa, ordered the seizure of Google LLC’s assets in support of the enforcement of a Russian Arbitrazh Court judgment concerning the recovery of dividends. This marked the first time a foreign court recognized claims arising from the bankruptcy proceedings of OOO "Google".

At the request of the bankruptcy trustee, the Moscow Arbitrazh Court extended the bankruptcy proceedings for an additional six months, until the end of October 2025. During the hearing, Mr. Talyarovsky reported that RUB 12.1 billion had been credited to the bankruptcy estate. According to the case materials, OOO "Google" had 21,592 creditors with aggregate claims of approximately RUB 16.5 billion, as well as more than 20,000 debtors. The court also dismissed Google Ireland’s applications to lift the interim measures.

Upon the application of bankruptcy trustee Valery Talyarovsky, the Moscow Arbitrazh Court granted interim relief prohibiting Google Ireland Limited from pursuing proceedings before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The injunction covered cases in which Google Ireland sought to prevent challenges to transactions involving the company and to block attempts to hold it subsidiarily liable for the debts of OOO "Google". The court imposed these measures in response to Google Ireland’s efforts to shift key disputes outside the jurisdiction of the Russian courts.

The first payments toward outstanding salary claims of former OOO "Google" employees were made from the bankruptcy estate. Between June and July 2025, a total of RUB 199,651,696.69 was distributed to former employees.

The number of claims against OOO "Google" continued to increase significantly. The bankruptcy trustee initiated proceedings to challenge the 2018 agreement between Google LLC and Google Ireland Limited, as well as the aggregate payments made under that agreement totaling approximately RUB 373.7 billion, which were transferred between April 2018 and March 2022 under a transfer pricing arrangement. Mr. Talyarovsky also initiated proceedings seeking to hold the company’s former controlling persons subsidiarily liable, including former CEO David Sneddon and former Managing Director Yulia Solovyova.

As part of the bankruptcy proceedings, bankruptcy trustee Valery Talyarovsky challenged the 22 December 2021 dividend payment transaction before the Moscow Arbitrazh Court. At the same time, he applied to courts in multiple foreign jurisdictions seeking recognition and enforcement of Russian court judgments. Proceedings were initiated in more than ten jurisdictions.

The Moscow Arbitrazh Court officially opened bankruptcy proceedings against OOO "Google". By that time, claims filed by 861 creditors totaling approximately RUB 53.6 billion had been included in the creditors’ claims register. Valery Andreevich Talyarovsky, who had previously served as the temporary administrator during the monitoring procedure, was appointed bankruptcy trustee. Based on the financial analysis conducted during the observation stage, the trustee concluded that there were indications of deliberate bankruptcy.

At a meeting of creditors, the creditors voted in favor of commencing bankruptcy proceedings, concluding that the solvency of OOO "Google" could not be restored.

During the monitoring procedure, the company’s financial records, cash flows, and transactions with foreign group companies were examined. Government authorities, media organizations, counterparties, and former employees joined the bankruptcy proceedings as creditors. The total amount of claims grew to tens of billions of rubles, including substantial judicial penalty claims.

The Moscow Arbitrazh Court found OOO «Google»’s bankruptcy petition to be well-founded and initiated the observation procedure. A temporary administrator was appointed to assess the company’s financial condition.

The magistrate judge of the Judicial District No. 422 of Moscow’s Tagansky District imposed a second turnover-based administrative fine on Google LLC in the amount of RUB 21.77 billion due to the company's refusal to remove prohibited information.

Represented by its CEO, David Sneddon, OOO "Google" filed for bankruptcy with the Moscow Arbitrazh Court, citing its inability to satisfy its obligations to creditors and the state.

The Federal Bailiff Service began recovering funds from OOO "Google"’s bank accounts to enforce court judgments and collect outstanding administrative fines.

In March 2022, OOO "Google" began relocating employees outside Russia. Later that month, the company officially announced its decision to withdraw from the Russian market, acknowledging that it anticipated its own bankruptcy and would be unable to meet its financial obligations. During the same period, funds held in the company’s bank accounts were frozen pursuant to interim measures granted in claims brought by Russian media organizations.

Following its investigation, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) concluded that Google LLC had engaged in unfair business practices and that YouTube’s enforcement policies were non-transparent, discriminatory, and unpredictable. On July 25, 2022, FAS Russia imposed an administrative fine of RUB 2,002,171,048 for violations of Russian antitrust law. As a result of Google LLC's failure to pay the specified fine on time, the total penalty grew to RUB 30 billion by 2026.

Google LLC was fined RUB 7.22 billion for failing to remove prohibited content, marking the largest turnover-based administrative fine imposed on a foreign technology company in Russia at that time.

Despite the court judgment becoming final, Google did not restore access to the Tsargrad YouTube channel, causing the judicial penalty to increase automatically over time. On December 22, 2021, while legal claims against the company continued to grow, OOO "Google" distributed dividends totaling RUB 9.49 billion to its parent company, Google International LLC, and paid approximately RUB 500 million in dividend tax. The bankruptcy trustee subsequently challenged these payments as transactions made in anticipation of bankruptcy and intended to prejudice the interests of creditors.

The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) initiated antitrust proceedings against Google LLC on suspicion of abusing its dominant market position.

The court granted Tsargrad’s claim in full, finding the blocking of its YouTube channel unlawful and ordering Google to restore access. According to the court’s findings, the defendants failed to provide any lawful justification for blocking the channel. The court also ordered OOO "Google", Google LLC, and Google Ireland Limited to pay a judicial penalty of RUB 100,000 for each day of non-compliance, beginning on the fifth day after the judgment entered into force. The penalty was to double every week until access to the Tsargrad TV channel was restored.

Tsargrad Media filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitrazh Court against OOO "Google", Google Ireland Limited, and Google LLC, seeking a declaration that the blocking of its YouTube channel was unlawful and requesting that access to the channel be restored.

YouTube blocked the Russian television channel Tsargrad TV, citing applicable export control laws as the basis for its decision.

YouTube began systematically blocking Russian state-owned and patriotic media channels, citing violations of its platform policies and international sanctions requirements. At the same time, Russian authorities increasingly pursued legal claims against OOO "Google" concerning the dissemination of prohibited content.

In April 2018, Google Ireland Limited changed the allocation of advertising revenue generated in the Russian market, reducing OOO "Google"’s share from approximately 20% to less than 3%. As a result, up to 98.5% of advertising revenue generated in Russia was transferred abroad. Russian courts subsequently concluded that this transfer pricing arrangement enabled more than RUB 100 billion to be transferred out of Russia in favor of Google Ireland Limited.