NEW YORK (Reuters) – A holder of defaulted Venezuelan bonds is contemplating an attempt to seize Florida seafront apartments belonging to Raul Gorrin, a media mogul accused by U.S. prosecutors of bribing Venezuelan officials to win contracts, court filings show.
The possible move by Casa Express Corp, a little-known Florida firm that was among the first to sue https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-venezuela-bonds-idUKKBN1OI079 the crisis-stricken South American country for defaulting on bonds, shows how creditors are searching increasingly far afield for assets tied to Venezuela.
A U.S. federal judge in the Southern District of New York ruled in November 2020 that Casa Express was entitled to collect $43.2 million from Venezuela in unpaid obligations under two bonds the country defaulted on in 2018 amid a prolonged economic collapse.
In August 2021, the company registered that judgment in a federal court in Florida. The apartments there are owned by two Delaware-registered companies the United States says are owned or controlled by Gorrin https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm583 – Posh 8 Dynamic Inc and Planet 2 Reaching Inc, Miami-Dade county records show.
In an Oct. 1 filing, an attorney for the two companies said Casa Express had compelled them “to file an affidavit stating why certain real property should not be applied toward the satisfaction of the judgment.” The filing was first reported by financial information provider REDD.
Attorneys for Casa Express and for the Delaware companies did not reply to requests for comment.
U.S. prosecutors in 2018 accused Gorrin https://www.reuters.com/article/venezuela-corruption/u-s-prosecutors-accuse-venezuela-media-mogul-of-bribery-money-laundering-idUSL2N1XV05P, owner of Venezuelan television channel Globovision, of violating U.S. anti-corruption laws by paying $150 million in bribes to Venezuelan officials for the right to participate in lucrative currency deals, and laundering funds through U.S. assets.
Any attempt by Casa Express to seize the apartments would face multiple obstacles, said Jay Auslander, a partner at law firm Wilk Auslander specializing in judgment enforcement.
“They’re going to have to show that these assets are being held by Gorrin for Venezuela’s benefit,” Auslander said.
In addition, both Posh 8 Dynamic and Planet 2 Reaching were sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in 2019, blocking U.S. companies from dealing with them. Casa Express would need an OFAC license to seize the assets, Auslander said.
The apartments owned by Posh 8 Dynamic and Planet 2 Reaching are valued at $6.2 million and $11.8 million, respectively, the property records show.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by David Gregorio)
