Opinion
21-MC-00007(JGK)(VF)
12-12-2022
The Federal Republic of Nigeria, Plaintiff, v. VR Advisory Services, LTD. et al., Defendants.
ORDER
VALERIE FIGUEREDO, United States Magistrate Judge:
The Federal Republic of Nigeria requests that the VR Respondents be ordered to produce 35 documents from a shareholder arbitration against Process and Industrial Developments Ltd. The court held a conference on this issue on December 12, 2022. See ECF No. 69 (order scheduling conference). Nigeria has demonstrated that the shareholder arbitration documents are relevant to the issue of the fraudulent arbitration award. Moreover, the cases VR Respondents rely on to argue that the documents-which are in the VR Respondents' possession-do not need to be produced as part of this Section 1782 proceeding are distinguishable. As the Second Circuit has made clear, an applicant in a Section 1782 application is not required to exhaust opportunities for discovery before the foreign tribunal. See Federal Republic of Nigeria v. VR Advisory Services, Ltd., 27 F.4th 136, 155 (2d Cir. 2022).
Accordingly, the VR Respondents are directed to produce the 35 documents from the shareholder arbitration to The Federal Republic of Nigeria by 6 p.m. today, December 12, 2022 .
The documents should be produced without redactions for relevance. The only redactions that should be applied are redactions for privilege under English law, as discussed during the conference. The Clerk of the Court is respectfully directed to terminate the letter motion at ECF No. 68.
SO ORDERED.