Shell Loses Its Final Appeal In Fairfield Litigation

BACKGROUND

On 12 December 2008, the day after the arrest of Bernard Madoff, Shell applied to redeem its 46,708.1304 shares in Fairfield Sentry (Fairfield) (the largest Madoff feeder fund) purchased between 2003 and 2006 at subscription prices totalling USD45 million. On 18 December 2008, Fairfield suspended determinations of its Net Asset Value (NAV) per share, effectively putting an end to redemptions.

Shell then applied, on 22 December 2008, in the Amsterdam District Court (District Court) for a pre-judgment attachment (or garnishment) over all Fairfield assets held by custodian Citco Bank Nederland N.V. up to a value of USD80 million, including assets held in Citco's Dublin branch. Attachments were made on 23 December 2008, 21 January 2009 and 16 March 2010 totalling USD71 million. On 16 February 2011, the District Court rejected Fairfield's application to lift the attachments.