Sanctions Risk: Drafting Contracts to Avoid ‘Double Jeopardy’

In the recent case of Lamesa Investments Ltd v Cynergy Bank Ltd [2019] EWHC 1877 (Comm), the High Court upheld the bank’s attempt to avoid a common banking dilemma: the ‘double jeopardy’ of being contractually liable to make a payment in one jurisdiction that risks the imposition of criminal or regulatory liability in another. In this case, if the bank had paid interest under a loan, it risked the imposition of U.S. ‘secondary sanctions.’

View full memo, Sanctions Risk: Drafting Contracts to Avoid ‘Double Jeopardy’.