Law 360 reported today that,\u00a0half-way through a five week trial,\u00a0Mocrief Oil International, Inc. dropped its $1.36 billion theft of trade secrets lawsuit against Russia’s OAO Gazprom.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The report\u00a0states that\u00a0Gazprom’s lawyers\u00a0cross-examined Moncrief’s Chief Financial Officer last week and established that a key\u00a0document upon which Moncrief based its case was fabricated.\u00a0\u00a0Moncrief’s CFO had testified that the document was created in 2004\u00a0and supported Moncrief’s claim that it disclosed trade secret information to Gazprom.\u00a0 Gazprom ‘s lawyer asserted during cross-examination that the document contained information that did not exist in 2004 because it was\u00a0taken from a 2012\u00a0research paper.<\/p>\n
This is the second Texas theft of trade secrets case in less than a year involving allegations of fake evidence.\u00a0 In May 2014, the lawyers representing the plaintiff who had obtained a $25 million verdict in\u00a0a theft of trade secrets lawsuit withdrew from the case and stated that their client\u00a0had relied upon\u00a0false evidence and testimony.\u00a0 The plaintiff allegedly created a fake contract and forged emails to support its claims.\u00a0 You can view the defendants’ motion for sanctions in that case here<\/a>.<\/p>\n