Russian court drops charges against sick Yukos executive

A Moscow court is expected Monday to begin announcing the verdict in the second trial of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a case some see as a bellwether of Russia's political future. Once the country's richest man, now its most prominent prisoner, Khodorkovsky, 47, is already serving an eight-year sentence for fraud.But with his release scheduled for next year, Khodorkovsky is now on trial on charges of money laundering and embezzlement that could see the head of the now-defunct Yukos oil giant stay in jail until 2017.

A Moscow court is expected Monday to begin announcing the verdict in the second trial of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a case some see as a bellwether of Russia's political future. Once the country's richest man, now its most prominent prisoner, Khodorkovsky, 47, is already serving an eight-year sentence for fraud.But with his release scheduled for next year, Khodorkovsky is now on trial on charges of money laundering and embezzlement that could see the head of the now-defunct Yukos oil giant stay in jail until 2017.

A Moscow court is expected Monday to begin announcing the verdict in the second trial of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a case some see as a bellwether of Russia's political future.Once the country's richest man, now its most prominent prisoner, Khodorkovsky, 47, is already serving an eight-year sentence for fraud.But with his release scheduled for next year, Khodorkovsky is now on trial on charges of money laundering and embezzlement that could see the head of the now-defunct Yukos oil giant stay in jail until 2017.

(Reuters) - Calling them "tax cheats" and their lawsuit a "travesty," a U.S. appeals court threw out an effort by some American customers of UBS AG to recover damages over bank services that resulted in their having evaded U.S. taxes.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Russian court postponed on Friday hearing in an appeal against a decision to award more than $3 billion in damages against British oil major BP brought by minority shareholders in its Russian venture TNK-BP , a lawyer for BP said. The decision to postpone the hearings was made a day after the Soviet-born billionaires who share ownership of Anglo-Russian oil company TNK-BP with partner BP declared an end to a boardroom stalemate. The announced agreement would allow the partners to focus on finalizing the $55 billion sale of TNK-BP to Russian state oil major Rosneft . ...

Russia's one-time oil tycoon and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky has applied for early release from jail having served more than half his 13-year sentence, a website said Monday.His associate, Platon Lebedev, made the same application, according to their khodorkovsky.ru site, which published copies of letters the pair sent to a Moscow court on May 27 asking for parole.A Russian court on May 24 upheld a fraud conviction for the Yukos oil company founder and cut his time in jail by just one year until the autumn of 2016.

A Moscow court on Monday found jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky guilty in his second trial on charges of embezzlement, Russian news agencies reported.The court found Khodorkovsky and his co-accused Platon Lebedev guilty of embezzlement, the ITAR-TASS news agency reported. They had been charged with embezzling 218 million tonnes of oil.Only a handful of reporters were allowed into the courtroom for the verdict and judge Viktor Danilkin then requested even those journalists to leave as the rest of the verdict was read out.