Google’s $129 Million Asset Freeze in France: Impact of Russian Ruling

By Leo Marchandon, Inti Landauro, and Gleb Bryanski

PARIS/MOSCOW – The overseer of Google’s terminated Russian operations has secured a temporary freeze on approximately 110 million euros of assets owned by the Alphabet company in France, according to official documents obtained by Reuters.

This action signifies a rare use of legal avenues by Russian officials to target the assets of Western corporations abroad, especially amid increasing tensions regarding the potential appropriation of seized Russian assets in Europe.

In a separate matter, Russia’s central bank is pursuing legal action against Euroclear, a Brussels-based financial entity managing many of the frozen Russian assets, in a Moscow court.

The action against Google France involves shares belonging to Google International and was initiated by Google Russia through its appointed judicial administrator.

The French bailiff did not provide any comments. Both Google and the French government, along with the administrator for Google Russia, did not respond to several inquiries from Reuters.

The French bailiff’s orders indicate that this action is grounded in three rulings issued by Moscow arbitration courts between 2024 and 2025, which fall under international commercial law.

William Julie, a lawyer representing the liquidator from the French law firm WJ Avocats, mentioned that a Russian tribunal found Google culpable of an illegal dividend distribution amounting to roughly 10 billion roubles in 2021.

Julie also noted that the Russian liquidator is pursuing enforcement efforts in Spain, Turkey, and South Africa.

Google, whose parent company Alphabet boasts a stock market valuation of about $3.8 trillion, has encountered several fines from Moscow. Google Russia declared bankruptcy in 2022 after its bank account was seized, roughly six months post the invasion of Ukraine.

GOOGLE CAN CONTEST TEMPORARY FREEZE

The order from the French bailiff enacts a temporary freeze, and according to French law, legal representatives are required to initiate formal recognition proceedings within a month, or the freeze will lapse.

Julie confirmed that these documents would be submitted to the court shortly, and Google France has also been notified.

The Paris Judicial Court will assess whether to grant formal recognition and enforcement authorization of the foreign arbitration decisions, a process that may take as long as eighteen months, as stated by Julie.

Google retains the right to contest the temporary freeze with the enforcement judge. If authorization for recognition and enforcement is granted, the frozen assets may be seized to fulfill the mandates of the arbitration court rulings, Julie added.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.