Credit Suisse Life (Bermuda) Ltd (Respondent) v Bidzina Ivanishvili and 6 others (Appellants) No 2 (Bermuda)

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Case summary

Case ID

JCPC/2024/0035

Jurisdiction

Bermuda

Parties

Appellant(s)

(1) Bidzina Ivanishvili

(2) Meadowsweet Assets Ltd

(3) Sandcay Investments Ltd

Respondent(s)

Credit Suisse Life (Bermuda) Ltd

Issue

(1) Is permission required by Rule 25, Privy Council Rules? (2) Does an exception to the double-actionability rule apply? (3) Under Georgian conflict-of-laws rules, does a Bermudan or Georgian limitation period apply? (4) Does the claim for fraudulent misrepresentation involve the same or substantially the same facts as the original claim, such that leave to amend to include that claim can be given? (5) To establish fraudulent misrepresentation, does a claimant need to prove that he or she was aware of and/or understood that an implied representation had been made?

Facts

Mr Bidzin Ivanishvili is a successful businessman and former Prime Minister of Georgia. Through business endeavours established in the 1980s and 1990s, he acquired and later sold stakes in a metallurgical complex and retail bank for more than US $2,000,000,000. Despite previously managing his own money, Mr Ivanishvili accepted an approach by Credit Suisse with a proposal for managing his immense wealth. Mr Ivanishvili’s relationship manager with Credit Suisse was, from 2006, Mr Patrice Lescaudron. Mr Ivanishvili initially transferred his profits of approximately US $1,100,000,000 from the abovementioned sales into accounts held by Credit Suisse. To enable him to take advantage of various financial and practical benefits of an offshore life-insurance policy, the majority of this amount was passed through two life portfolio international policies with Credit Suisse Life (Bermuda) Limited (‘CS Life’), a subsidiary of Credit Suisse. The policies were held by Meadowsweet Assets Limited (a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands) and Sandcay LPI Policy (a company incorporated in the Bahamas), both of which were ultimately controlled or owned by Credit Suisse. In 2015, it was discovered that Mr Lescaudron had carried on a fraud with Mr Ivanishvili’s investment, for which he was later convicted in Switzerland. Mr Ivanishvili, together with his family members and Meadowsweet and Sandcay, sued CS Life for losses resulting from this fraud. The Supreme Court of Bermuda found for Mr Ivanishvili, awarding him damages. The Court of Appeal dismissed CS Life’s appeal against this decision, save that it reversed the Supreme Court’s conclusion on allegations of fraudulent misrepresentation. The Appellant, CS Life, appeals to the Privy Council as of right and with final permission of the Court of Appeal. If permission is required, the Respondents seek it to cross-appeal the Court of Appeal’s ruling on fraudulent misrepresentation.