The Tel Aviv District Court yesterday ordered Arcadi Gaydamak to pay NIS 100 million to Levi Kushnir and Balram Chainrai, a British citizen. Gaydamak did not file a statement of defense in the lawsuit filed by the two businessmen against him.
Judge Avi Zamir ordered Gaydamak to pay each of the plaintiffs $11.4 million, plus interest from the date the lawsuit was filed in July 2008, and NIS 500,000 in court costs.
Kushnir and Chainrai sued Gaydamak in an abbreviated procedure, claiming that he promised to pay them $23 million for their shares in Ameris Holdings Ltd. (TASE:AMRS.B1) in accordance with their option to sell him the shares as part of the contract between them and Gaydamak in July 2007.
Ameris founders Kushnir, Chainrai, and Israel Shochat sold 65% of the company to Gaydamak. The contract included a commitment by Gaydamak to buy the rest of the company for $23 million. Kushnir and Chainrai claimed that Gaydamak reneged on the commitment.
The TASE management has suspended trading in Ameris's bond.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 22, 2009