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WORLD NEWSSaturday 23 July 2016
US judge rejects $100M investor
fraud lawsuit against VenezuelaÂ
ANDREW HUGGINS statement.
Chip Cooper, a Colum-
Associated Press bus attorney representing
Skye Ventures, said the
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — company was still review-
ing the lengthy decision
A federal judge on Friday and couldn’t immedi-
ately comment. The le-
rejected a $100 million gitimacy of the promissory
notes was at the heart of
investors’ lawsuit against the case, which included
more than 700 individual
Venezuela in a case that filings and thousands of
pages of documents.
included allegations of Skye Ventures said it
based its decision to pur-
fraud, hints of an interna- chase the notes on a
2003 opinion by the Ven-
tional criminal conspiracy ezuelan attorney general
and a 2003 report by the
and references to dia- country’s Ministry of Fi-
nance that said the notes
monds, junk bonds and were valid and must be
paid. Venezuela said that
a mysterious house fire in the opinion and report
weren’t binding and that
Switzerland. At issue were Skye Ventures had ev-
ery reason to believe the
3-decade-old promissory notes were fraudulent.
Siding with Venezuela,
notes issued by a now-de- Sargus noted in his deci-
sion that even a Skye Ven-
funct government-spon- tures lawyer “believed
that the question of the
sored Venezuelan bank. validity of the notes was
an extremely close call.â€
Lawyers representing Sargus pointed out that
Skye Ventures itself dis-
Puerto Rico Gov, Alejandro Javier Garcia Padilla speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Puerto Venezuela said the notes covered evidence that
Rico’s governor said Friday, July 22, 2016, he will not authorize aerial spraying with the insecticide the notes weren’t valid.
Naled to fight an increase in Zika cases despite being urged to do so by U.S. health officials. In- were fakes with forged Venezuela said the fraud
stead he will support the spraying of the organic larvicide Bti. was perpetrated by “a
signatures and were nev- notorious international
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) criminal†who, before he
er guaranteed by the died in a house fire in Swit-
Amid protest: zerland, had been con-
government.“The evi- victed of crimes related
Puerto Rico rejects insecticide to fight Zika to fake Bandagro prom-
dence will show not only issory notes. Lawyers for
the country also denied
that the purported notes claims by Skye Ventures
that a group affiliated
are fake, but also that the with that criminal pur-
chased such bonds “in ex-
plaintiff seeks to capitalize change for ‘much more’
than $250 million, suppos-
on a long-running interna- edly comprised of an un-
specified combination of
DANICA COTO fects on people and wild- have been hospitalized in tional fraud,†Albert Lu- diamonds, German junk
Associated Press life. The U.S. Centers for Dis- connection with the virus. bonds and cash.â€q
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) ease Control and Preven- There are also 21 cases of cas, a Columbus attorney
— Puerto Rico’s governor tion recently said Puerto a temporary paralysis con-
announced Friday that Rico lacked an integrated dition known as Guillain- representing Venezuela,
he will not authorize aerial mosquito control program Barre that has been linked
spraying with the insecti- as it fights what it called a to Zika. said in a Jan. 27 filing sum-
cide naled to fight an in- silent epidemic. Eight of 10 “This illness is not a joke,â€
crease in Zika cases as U.S. people show no symptoms said Rius, who originally marizing the Venezuelan
health officials have urged. of Zika, which can cause recommended spraying
Instead, Gov. Alejandro symptoms including fever, with naled but later with- government’s case.
Garcia Padilla said he will rash and headache. drew her support.
support the spraying of Bti, So far, Puerto Rico has 5,582 Garcia’s announcement Judge Edmund Sargus
an organic larvicide. He Zika cases and is seeing a follows a rift between his
said it should be sufficient 20-30 percent weekly in- administration and the agreed, calling the notes
to fight the mosquito-borne crease in those cases, said CDC, which angered the
virus along with other on- Health Secretary Ana Rius. local government officials fraudulent in a 101-page
going efforts, but hoped There are 662 pregnant by sending a shipment of
no child would be “born women infected with Zika, naled to the U.S. territory opinion and saying the
with congenital defects and up to 80 of them have this week without notify-
because of the decision given birth, all to healthy ing them. Garcia said he “bank in question never
I took.†Zika can cause babies, she said. However, ordered the shipment re-
microcephaly, a rare de- Puerto Rico in May report- turned. “This is our island,†issued the debt and re-
fect in which babies are ed the first microcephaly he said in a nod to angry
born with abnormally small case acquired on U.S. soil. Puerto Ricans who ac- ceived no consideration
heads and brain damage. It involved a fetus that a cused the federal govern-
Puerto Ricans in recent woman turned over to U.S. ment of threatening the for it.†Sargus presided
weeks have organized sev- health officials who found it island’s political autonomy.
eral protests against the tested positive for Zika. The CDC addressed that is- over a trial lasting nearly
use of naled, raising con- One death has been re- sue in a Friday statement.
cerns about its potential ef- ported and 65 people q five weeks this year after
Skye Ventures’ 2004 law-
suit survived multiple le-
gal challenges. Andrew
Schwartz, whose firm Fol-
ey Hoag LLC represents
Venezuela in the case,
said the ruling is “a signifi-
cant victory for Venezu-
ela and its citizens.â€
“Venezuela has long
maintained that the notes
are fraudulent, and the
Court’s decision fully vin-
dicates Venezuela’s posi-
tion,†Schwartz said in a
