UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT

August Term 2022

(Argued: September 28, 2022 Decided: August 30, 2023)

Docket No. 21-2238

IN RE: LARISA IVANOVNA MARKUS,

Debtor.

VICTOR A. WORMS,

Appellant,

v.

YURI VLADIMIROVICH ROZHKOV,

Appellee.

ON APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK

Before: JACOBS, CHIN, AND ROBINSON, Circuit Judges. Appeal from two orders of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Liman, J.), entered April 3, 2020, and September 9, 2021, affirming in relevant part orders of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Glenn, J.) imposing civil contempt sanctions and awarding attorneys' fees against the debtor's attorney in a Chapter 15 proceeding. The district court held that the bankruptcy court has inherent authority to issue civil contempt sanctions, including per diem sanctions and attorneys' fees, arising out of a contemnor's failure to comply with the bankruptcy court's orders.

AFFIRMED.

VICTOR A. WORMS, Law Offices of Victor A. Worms, New York, NY, for Appellant.

STEPHEN B. SELBST (Rachel H. Ginzburg, on the brief), Herrick, Feinstein LLP, New York, NY, for Appellee.

CHIN, Circuit Judge:

In this case, appellant Victor A. Worms, an attorney, represented the debtor Larisa Ivanovna Markus in proceedings before the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (Glenn, J.). After

2 Worms failed to comply with a series of discovery orders, the bankruptcy court imposed sanctions of, inter alia, $55,000 for 55 days of non-compliance and $36,600 in attorneys' fees. The orders were affirmed by the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (Liman, J.). Worms now appeals to this Court, arguing that, first, the bankruptcy court lacked inherent authority to issue civil contempt sanctions, and second, as a matter of due process, he was not provided with sufficient notice of the basis for the sanctions imposed against him. We affirm.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE I. Background

Markus is a Russian citizen who was the founder of Vneshprombank, Ltd. ("Vneshprombank"), one of Russia's largest banks. She served as its president from 1995 through 2016. On March 11, 2016, the Moscow Arbitration Court declared Vneshprombank insolvent and commenced bankruptcy proceedings against it. See In re Foreign Econ. Indus. Bank Ltd., 607 B.R. 160, 163 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2019). Thereafter, on April 19, 2016, one of Markus's creditors applied to the Moscow Arbitration Court for commencement of bankruptcy proceedings against Markus personally. Id. The application was

3 granted on April 22, 2016, and the Moscow Arbitration Court appointed appellee Yuri Vladimirovich Rozhkov to preside over the liquidation of Markus's assets. Id. at 163-64. Under Russian bankruptcy law, Rozhkov is responsible for pursuing actions against persons or entities that contributed to Markus's insolvency.

On May 12, 2017, Markus was convicted in a Russian tribunal for embezzling approximately $2 billion from Vneshprombank. According to the ju