Sher Tremonte Recovers Millions from North Korea for the Family of Otto Warmbier

          On October 23, 2023, Sher Tremonte obtained a turnover order directing BNY Mellon to turn over funds to Sher Tremonte’s clients, Cynthia and Frederick Warmbier, in partial satisfaction of their $500 million judgment against North Korea arising from the death of their son, Otto Warmbier.  

          On June 19, 2017, 22-year-old Otto Warmbier died in Cincinnati, Ohio shortly after his release from North Korea, where he had spent 17 months in captivity. The Warmbiers sued North Korea under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, for its torture, hostage taking, and extrajudicial killing of their son, who died as a result of the injuries inflicted upon him while being detained by North Korea. On December 24, 2018, the Warmbiers obtained a default judgment of over $500 million.  

          Utilizing the Terrorist Risk Insurance Act, which allows judgment creditors like the Warmbiers to satisfy judgments with blocked assets of terrorist debtors like North Korea, Sher Tremonte obtained a writ of execution and filed a turnover petition for over $2 million held by BNY Mellon in an account for Far Eastern Bank (“FEB”), a Russian entity whose funds had been blocked by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) pursuant to sanctions related to North Korea.  Based on OFAC’s designation, Sher Tremonte argued that FEB was an “agency or instrumentality” of North Korea.  

          Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York agreed and granted the petition, turning over all funds in the account to the Warmbiers.  

          Sher Tremonte’s team included partner Justin M. Sher, associate Martin Njoroge, former associates Jennifer Luo, Kate Ghotbi, and Cathy Liu, and former paralegal Eden Knoop. 

          Read the full decision here. A news article concerning the order can be found here.