Lenihan, formerly an associate of top-shelf law firm Simpson Grierson, couldn't reveal the value of the trust assets, which liquidators allege are still beneficially owned by Pugachev.
Those liquidators, from a Russian state corporation, accuse Pugachev of extracting money from the bank he founded after it had been bailed out by the Russian Central Bank.
Pugachev denies the allegations and, in turn, contends that the Russian Government raided his US$15 billion business empire.
Lenihan said it wasn't unusual for people from Russia to have New Zealand trusts.
"A lot of people are surprised by that, but New Zealand is quite an attractive destination for overseas trusts ... it's such a stable place, they don't have to worry about what's going to happen to their assets."
Surviving in style
Business Insider notes that another of the local trusts' beneficiaries is Pugachev's partner, Alexandra Tolstoy.
A former host of a BBC television show about horses, Tolstoy last year lamented to the Daily Mail that the asset freeze left the family of five with only 10,000 ($23,920) a week to live on.
A distant relative of distinguished novelist Leo Tolstoy, the socialite doesn't seem to have inherited the Russian master's distaste for wealth.
Even after the freeze, the family had two housekeepers, a nanny and a string of high-end properties to live in.
Around the time she voiced her complaints, Pugachev disclosed to a British court that he was down to his last US$70 million.
"We're just surviving at the moment," Alexandra told the Daily Mail.
As her partner is believed to have raised the ire of the Russian state, Business Insider wonders if "just surviving" might still be at the forefront of Tolstoy's mind. These days, reports the Guardian, Pugachev lives in France, after slipping out of Britain in defiance of a court order.
"Pugachev says he fled the UK for good reason: someone is trying to kill him," said the newspaper.
Duly received
Rich-lister Peter Masfen (right) and two fellow shareholders have got back almost all they were owed after tipping their own company into receivership.
Pacific T&R was set up in 2012 to build a timber processing plant in Taupo to extract resin from waste pine stumps.
But the money ran out before the project could be completed, and three of the company's shareholders called in receivers in January.
One of those shareholders - with a 26.5 per cent stake - was Masfen-owned company Selene Holdings.
The shareholders, who were owed $10.9 million when receivers were appointed, stumped up more cash so the project could be finished.
The plant was sold in May, and the three shareholders have got back $10.8 million of what they were owed, according to a report from receivers on Monday. They are still due about $100,000.
In any event, a loss by Masfen's interests would barely have made a scratch in his net worth, which was estimated at $430 million this year.
A former Olympic rower, Masfen has an extensive reach in New Zealand business.
One of his investment vehicles, Masfen Securities, has holdings in a wide array of listed firms. His group also has a large property portfolio.
The Long Goodbye
Brook Asset Management's death certificate has finally been signed, more than a year after its obituaries first appeared.
Once the biggest boutique fund manager in the country, Brook Asset Management announced in April last year that it would close. Its owner, Australian lender Macquarie, has only just got around to filing all the paperwork. Liquidators were appointed last week, and their first report says the firm is solvent, with no liabilities. The liquidation is expected to be a quick and painless affair, and all wrapped up within six months.
Macquarie paid about $22.5 million for Brook in 2008 , most of which was believed to have gone to former owners Paul Glass and Simon Botherway.
Botherway is now chairman of travel software company Serko and Glass heads Devon Funds Management. Brook managed about $1.5 billion at its peak but this had dwindled to about $130 million by last April.
