Venezuela's Rafael Ramirez
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A federal judge in Houston ordered a former
Venezuelan oil minister this week to pay the owners of a defunct Houston
oil company $1.4 billion in damages in a fraud suit, although it is
unclear if or how the payment will ever be made.
U.S. District
Court Judge Lee Rosenthal issued the default judgment on Wednesday after
Rafael Ramirez did not contest Harvest Natural Resources’ claims,
according to an opinion accompanying the ruling.
James
Edmiston, Harvest Natural’s former chief executive and director, said
on Thursday he was pleased with the order. Whether the shareholders of
Harvest will ever receive a payment from Ramirez “is the $1.4 billion
question,” he said.
Ramirez, in a message to Reuters, said he was not surprised by the order, but declined further comment.
Harvest’s
suit claimed Venezuela refused to allow the company to sell its assets
in the country from 2012, leading it to lose $472 million. It accused
Ramirez and others of seeking a $10 million bribe to approve the
transaction.
Rosenthal initially awarded Harvest $472 million in damages in December, an amount he tripled this week.
Ramirez
was appointed energy minister by late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez,
serving in that job until 2014. He later was the country’s ambassador
to the United Nations, but left after being accused of corruption by
Venezuelan officials amid a purge of executives at state oil firm PDVSA.
Reporting by Erwin Seba, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien
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