Half a billion on hold: cassation court halts collection from Havas Media in favour of ADV Benchmark
The Arbitration Court of the Moscow District has suspended enforcement of rulings ordering Havas Media to pay nearly 480 million rubles to ADV Benchmark, citing a long-running corporate conflict in the ADV group.
Case file
- Court
- Arbitration Court of the Moscow District (cassation)
- At stake
- 480.1 million rubles — 417.5 million in debt and 62.6 million in penalties, plus 0.1% a day since February 10, 2026
- Status
- On November 10, 2026, the cassation court suspended enforcement until it rules on the appeal
The Arbitration Court of the Moscow District on November 10 suspended the collection of nearly 480 million rubles from Havas Media LLC in favour of ADV Benchmark LLC. No money will be taken until the cassation court rules on Havas Media's appeal.
The sum consists of 417.5 million rubles in debt and 62.6 million in penalties. On top of that, interest of 0.1% a day has been accruing on the debt since February 10, 2026. The Moscow Arbitration Court upheld ADV Benchmark's claim in March, and in August the Ninth Arbitration Appeal Court left the ruling in force.
As recently as October, the district court refused to suspend enforcement, finding that Havas Media had not shown that reversing it would be difficult. The cassation court has now overturned that refusal, citing the large amount at stake and a long-running corporate conflict among the group's owners, Sostav reported.
The conflict dates back to 2023. That February, Dmitry Korobkov, founder of the ADV advertising group, sold stakes in five group companies to Alliance KS LLC for 600.2 million rubles and agreed to hand the buyers control of joint ventures, including Havas Media. Korobkov later tried to have the deal annulled, saying he had been deceived. Three courts turned him down.
In April 2026, the Moscow Arbitration Court returned Korobkov's stakes in several ADV companies, but the appeal court reversed the ruling, noting that Korobkov had been paid in full and had not challenged the contracts for almost three years. That decision has entered into force, and the stakes remain with the current owners.
The money dispute between ADV Benchmark and Havas Media ran in parallel. In December 2025, a court froze Havas Media's accounts up to 486 million rubles, but banks managed to block only about 148,000, according to MK. ADV's representative Artur Abuzov said at the time that Havas Media's total debt to the group exceeded 1 billion rubles. Korobkov's side called the debts intra-group and said the company had been cut off from the group's money flows.
No date has been announced for the cassation hearing on the merits.
Sources
Most sources are in Russian.
Kurs Media editorial team. Corrections and statements from the parties: press@kursmedia.com. Read in Russian.
