11th March 2016, New York: Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP (Kasowitz), the official board appointed lawyers for Aman Resort Group Ltd (ARGL), filed a notice today in the New York Court dismissing the lawsuit that had been improperly filed earlier this week by US law firm Brown Rudnick, who purported to be acting for ARGL.  Aman Resort Group Ltd (ARGL) is a shell BVI company with no links to the luxury Hotel Chain Aman.  Kasowitz also filed motions to vacate the consent to bankruptcy answer as well as seeking dismissal of the involuntary claim and requested that these be heard within in the next two weeks.

This legal action is in response to the reckless actions of Mr Omar Amanat starting late last week  in which he, along with other associates, attempted to mislead the New York courts through bogus creditor claims to petition for the involuntary bankruptcy of ARGL and then have Counsel who did not officially represent ARGL file an answer improperly consenting to that bankruptcy.  Aman Resort Group Ltd is a company with no assets and no liabilities.  ARGL has today shown the court that Mr Amanat action were an abuse of process and another attempt to interfere with the successful Aman Hotels’ brand and business.

It should be noted that Mr Amanat’s claims in the London High Court over the ownership of Aman collapsed dismally last week when a settlement was reached in the UK High Court of Justice, Case No HC2014-000497 by Mrs Justice Asplin DBE – the very day Mr Amanat commenced these improper actions in New York.  That settlement reached in the London High Court was a total back down by Mr Amanat with all allegations against Mr Doronin being retracted as well as Mr Amanat’s vehicle ‘Peak Hotels & Resorts Limited’ (PHRL) having to pay over USD £12m in costs to the parties involved.

Some facts to emerge from the court papers filed today show that:

• The Brown Rudnick attorneys, who purported to represent ARGL, were not appointed by the ARGL board but instead appear to have been acting at the direction of one renegade director
• That renegade director has been removed from the Aman Resort Group Ltd (ARGL) board
• The address of ARGL in the court papers was incorrectly stated to be a residential apartment building in New York, not the BVI address where it is actually located

ARGL lawyers requested in court today that Mr Amanat and the lawyers at Brown Rudnick be sanctioned for this “demonstrably frivolous” and “bad faith conduct”.

A spokesman for Mr Doronin stated: “Having so totally capitulated in London it is disappointing, if predictable that Mr Amanat is now trying to abuse the New York judicial system to continue his pointless attempts to pressure Mr Doronin into succumbing to his greenmail.  Mr Doronin has no doubt that Mr Amanat will once again be shown to bring claims with no substance, and to be someone who manipulates judicial process for his own ends. His actions of the last week have only strengthened Mr Doronin’s resolve to pursue his personal claims against Mr Amanat in the New York courts. Mr Amanat has been beaten once, and he will continue to be beaten every time he maliciously seeks to damage Aman, one of the greatest brands in the world.”