A court in Helsinki rejected the claim of Russian billionaire Boris Rotenberg against four Scandinavian banks. This is the second unsuccessful attempt of the businessman under U.S. sanctions to force the organizations to conduct his operations

The court in Helsinki rejected the claim of Boris Rotenberg #88 to four Scandinavian banks – Nordea, Danske Bank, Handelsbanken and OP Bank, reports Reuters, citing the decision of the court.

“The Helsinki District Court dismissed Boris Rotenberg’s complaint about his rights to banking services and damages for discrimination,” the agency quoted the court’s ruling as saying.

Rotenberg sued the banks because they refused to work with a businessman who was put on the U.S. sanctions list. Handelsbanken did not accept payments, and the rest did not carry out operations on the orders of the billionaire. Rotenberg insisted that in addition to Russian citizenship, he also has Finnish citizenship and was not subject to EU sanctions, unlike his brother Arkady Rotenberg # 53. It means that European banks must fulfill their obligations to him as a citizen of the European Union, the billionaire reasoned. The banks did not agree with this, because if the U.S. sanctions were violated, they could find themselves under restrictions and lose access to the U.S. dollar market.

This was Rotenberg’s second attempt to defend his position in court. He filed his first lawsuit against the three banks in October 2018, but the court dismissed it in February 2019. For the second time, the billionaire filed a lawsuit last September.

The decision of the Finnish court will be an important precedent that will guide other banks in similar situations, Bloomberg noted the day before.