The lawsuit by Citgo, a subsidiary of Pdvsa in the United States, was directed against Petroleum Logistics Service Corp and José Manuel González Testino, “for designing a widespread scheme of bribery and fraud” against the company
The US subsidiary of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), Citgo Petroleum Corp., reported in a statement published on its website on Wednesday, July 24, that it “obtained a significant judicial compensation” for a bribery case that “defrauded” the company and its parent companies.
The award of more than $340 million in damages and interest was handed down by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and granted full judgment to Citgo against its former contractor, Petroleum Logistics Service Corp. (PLS) and PLS founder Jose Manuel Gonzalez Testino.
“Since the new board of directors assumed control of Citgo in 2019, we have worked tirelessly to adopt the highest standards of corporate governance, internal controls and transparency and to seek compensation from those who had previously defrauded Citgo,” the statement reads. release.
The PDVSA subsidiary says the litigation began in 2020 to hold PLS and Testino accountable for engineering a widespread bribery and fraud scheme. “Testino, PLS and others engaged in a conspiracy lasting from approximately 2012 to 2018 (prior to the new board of directors), through which Citgo was defrauded of hundreds of millions of dollars.”
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Citgo assures that PLS and Testino paid millions of dollars in bribes to employees of this company to induce them to award PLS (and several PLS-affiliated brokerage firms) highly lucrative contracts for the sale and transportation of various goods and equipment, all supposedly for the benefit of Citgo’s ultimate shareholder in Venezuela.
“PLS and its affiliated companies then charged Citgo grossly inflated prices, fees and expenses for those goods and services, and concealed that conduct by bribing several former Citgo employees,” the statement said.
The oil company spouse that on July 11, 2024 the District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted the motion, finding PLS and the Testino estate liable for fraud, breach of contract, and civil violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
“On July 16, 2024, the court awarded Citgo more than $254 million in treble damages and more than $89 million in prejudgment interest. It is unclear what funds Defendants may be able to access to enforce this judgment, but Citgo intends to seek enforcement of the judgment, as appropriate, and to hold accountable any entity or individual who participated in this conspiracy.”
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