IBRC set for battle with Yahoo over alleged Quinn asset emails

Yahoo is fighting legal attempts by the special liquidators of Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC) to compel the internet giant to hand over emails the bank suspects may contain information about the alleged international stashing of assets beyond the reach of the bank on behalf of the family of Seán Quinn.

Kieran Wallace, the KPMG special liquidator, wrote to Yahoo the week before Christmas demanding it hand over the content of the emails from the account of Abdullah Rasimov, an alleged asset-stripping specialist.

* Members of Mr Quinn's family have been hit with a demand to repay loans of up to €2.8 billion arising from their dealings with Anglo Irish Bank prior to its collapse into insolvency . The Quinns are contesting their liability to repay.

IBRC has alleged in court documents that Mr Rasimov was hired to put assets beyond the reach of the bank on behalf of the Quinns, and that he used a Yahoo address to communicate about the plan.

The Quinns have consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to the issue.

Authority from court

Mr Wallace told the internet company in December he has authority from the bankruptcy court in Delaware, where IBRC received protection from its creditors, to demand the information from Yahoo.

Yahoo, which argues it cannot hand over the content of the emails because it is prevented by legislation, the Stored Communications Act in the US, has ignored the latest request from the special liquidators.

He said Yahoo has “sat on the sidelines” while IBRC has sought the information, while it alleges Mr Rasimov has “frustrated” and “evaded” its attempts to get the information.

Mr Wallace and Eamonn Richardson, the other KPMG special liquidator of IBRC, have now asked the Delaware court to order Yahoo to hand over the emails. There will be a hearing on the IBRC liquidators' request on March 1st, while Yahoo has until February 10th to file an objection.

Issue removed

The internet company, however, has separately set out its case in relation to the IBRC demand in a filing to a court in California. Yahoo wants the issue removed from the Delaware court to a court in its home state, where it may fancy its chances of a more sympathetic hearing.

Yahoo has told a Californian court that the demand from IBRC is part of a civil suit, which it says means it is subject to the Stored Communications Act. It says that under this law, it cannot hand over the information without the consent of Mr Rasimov, who has so far failed to give his imprimatur.

Mr Wallace claims the Delaware court has designated the liquidators as “subscribers” to the Yahoo account, which gives them the authority to effectively sanction the handover of the information to themselves.

The bank has been chasing Yahoo for the contents of the emails since 2014. While Yahoo has disclosed some details around the operation of the account, such as IP addresses used, the internet company has so far resisted disclosing the content of communications.

IBRC was unavailable for comment, while Yahoo and its US lawyers had not provided a response prior to publication. Mr Rasimov could not be reached for comment.

* This article was amended on Febraury 10th to correct an error.