Important update on the SEC V Zhao case Re: SEC v. Zhao and Zhu, 12 Civ. 1316 (KBF)
Dear Judge Forrest:
We represent plaintiff United States Securities and Exchange Commission ("Commission") and are writing to provide the Court with a further status report regarding our efforts to serve the Complaint and Summonses on the two defendants in the above-referenced action, which was filed on February 22, 2012. Both defendants are located in the People's Republic of China ("China"). As descri bed in our prior status reports, the Commission undertook to serve the defendants pursuant to Rule 4(f)(1) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which permits service through the procedures outlined in the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extra-Judicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters ("Hague Convention"). This process required, among other things, translating the Complaint and Summonses and sending the documents along with a cashier's check to China's Ministry of Justice ("MoJ").
As the Court is aware from our prior status reports, the MoJ received the first completed package ofinformation from the Commission on April 13, 2012. In our last status report to the Court, we advised that the MoJ returned to us the service packages we had provided for both of the defendants, indicating that defendant Ming Zhao ("Zhao") "refused to accept the documents" at his residence and that defendant Liping Zhu ("Zhu") no longer resided at the address listed on his state identification card.
In our April 9, 2013 status report, we indicated that we would again attempt service on the defendants through the Hague Convention protocols given that the plaintiffs in a related private action pending before the Court (11-cv-02598), appeared to have been successful in serving Zhao at the corporate office for Puda Coal, Inc. ("Puda") in China. The Commission therefore requested that the MoJ serve both Zhao and Zhu at Puda's corporate offices in China. The Commission also requested that the MoJ again serve Zhao at his residence with instructions to serve the documents even if Zhao again declines to accept the papers.
Case 1:12-cv-01316-KBF Document 22 Filed 08/29/13 Page 1 of 2