Dechert to Settle UK Hacking Claim From Aviation Executive (1)

Dechert will pay a multimillion-dollar settlement to resolve a claim in the UK that it participated in an illegal scheme to hack aviation executive Farhad Azima.

The two sides disagree on how big the settlement will be. Dechert said in a statement it agreed to pay $3.8 million (£3 million) plus Azima’s “reasonable costs, which have yet to be agreed between the parties or determined by the court.”

An Azima spokesman, Tim Maltin, said the settlement will come out to nearly $15 million, including $11 million in costs and $3.8 million in damages.

“While this substantial payment resolves Mr. Azima’s limited claim in the UK, Mr. Azima will continue to pursue the significant claims he has brought against Dechert and others based on their conduct against him in the US and the damages they caused him there,” Maltin said in a statement.

Dechert, a Philadelphia-based law firm with offices around the world, has faced multiple lawsuits from Azima alleging that it participated in an illegal hack of his computer systems while working for one of the United Arab Emirates.

The accusations center around the emirate, Ras Al Khaimah, which hired Neil Gerrard, once a top white-collar lawyer in Dechert’s London office, in 2013 to aid an investigation into the former head of the emirate’s investment fund.

Azima, who once did business with the fund, has claimed he became a target of Ras Al Khaimah due to his efforts to publicize its human rights abuses. He was hacked and his emails were dumped online as part of an effort by the emirate to gain leverage in a court spat over a prior commercial agreement, Azima claimed in his US lawsuit.

Azima is still pursuing allegations in the US that Gerrard, Dechert and others took part in a racketeering enterprise to hack his computer systems and then cover up their involvement. He has claimed in court filings that directors of an India-based cyber firm admitted to hacking Azima’s computers on orders from Gerrard and Nicholas Del Rosso, a private investigator who has done work on Dechert’s behalf.

His case against Dechert, which is pending in New York’s Southern District, also names Gerrard and one other former Dechert lawyer as defendants. Dechert last June asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing in part that the suit failed to adequately support claims including witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

Judge Paul G. Gardephe, who is overseeing the matter, has scheduled a Feb. 8 oral argument on the motions to dismiss.

Dechert last year settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed amount with a former Wall Street Journal foreign affairs reporter tied to the same alleged hacking scheme.