The Paul, Weiss Antitrust Practice advises clients on a full range of global antitrust matters, including antitrust regulatory clearance, government investigations, private litigation, and counseling and compliance. The firm represents clients before antitrust and competition authorities in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions around the world.
Paul, Weiss Secures Dismissal of Multi-Billion-Dollar Suit Against Glencore
- Client News
- March 11, 2019
Paul, Weiss achieved a major victory for our client Glencore when the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida dismissed a lawsuit against Glencore and other oil traders for allegedly conspiring to cheat Venezuela’s state oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, out of billions of dollars. The claims, filed by a U.S. litigation trust purportedly on behalf of PDVSA, alleged that the defendants had conspired to bribe Venezuelan officials and rig bids submitted to PDVSA for decades, allegedly costing PDVSA $5.2 billion in lost revenue. The trust, formed under New York law and controlled by PDVSA’s U.S. counsel, was purportedly assigned the claims of PDVSA and the Venezuelan government so that it could litigate on PDVSA’s behalf in the U.S. courts while insulating PDVSA itself from U.S.-based creditors and case-related discovery.
Prior to answering the complaint, Glencore and the other defendants challenged the trust’s standing and the legal validity of the supposed assignment of claims. Following extensive briefing on evidentiary issues, the law of champerty and maintenance, and New York trust law, the submission of expert testimony on Venezuelan law, and an evidentiary hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia M. Otazo-Reyes found in November that the trust failed to establish its standing and recommended the dismissal of the complaint. In his decision, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles agreed, adopting the magistrate’s recommendation.
The Paul, Weiss team included litigation partners Bruce Birenboim, Jessica Carey and Brad Karp and counsel Adam Schwartz.