Steptoe Team Handles Motorola Case Against Uzan Family Worldwide

A New York federal judge, following a bench trial, found that five members of the Uzan family and certain of their confederates and companies perpetrated a massive fraud against Motorola, Inc. and awarded the company $4.26 billion in damages: $2.13 billion in compensatory damages and $2.13 billion in punitive damages.  These damages arose out of a $2 billion loan made by Motorola to Telsim, a Turkish cellular telephone company formerly owned by the Uzans, one of the world’s wealthiest families.  In 2004, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed the $2.13 billion in compensatory damages.  In 2005, the Supreme Court denied the Uzans’ petition for a writ of certiorari.  In support of this judgment, the Steptoe team obtained a world-wide freezing order in the London commercial courts, which was affirmed by the English Court of Appeals, and froze and liquidated assets worldwide (including New York real estate; aircraft in Bermuda; France, and the United States; real estate in the United Kingdom and Germany; Swiss bank accounts; and yachts in Guernsey and Israel).

In addition, the Steptoe team obtained a $2 billion arbi­tral award in favor of Motorola and against Telsim following contested eviden­tiary proceedings before the Zurich Chamber of Commerce.  The Steptoe team then successfully enforced the arbitral award against Telsim in various coun­tries in Europe and in the United States. 

Motorola is a leading global supplier of telecommunications products.