Venezuela litigants seek faster pace

Venezuela must not be allowed to use the US Supreme Court to further stall compensation for assets the country seized from international firms, defunct Canadian mining company Crystallex has argued before a Delaware federal court.

The bankrupt company, now controlled by New York hedge fund Tenor Capital Management and seeking $1.2bn for expropriated mining interests, pressed the judge to limit delays as Venezuela appeals to the highest US court. Crystallex also sought to force Venezuela to release materials needed to pursue shares of the country's US independent refining subsidiary, Citgo, if the US-recognized government of Venezuela, headed by Juan Guaido, does not win its appeal.

"This court should modify its stay to remove the incentive for procedural gamesmanship," Crystallex wrote.

The US District Court for the District of Delaware earlier this month issued a stay in Crystallex's courtroom pursuit of Citgo. That halt to proceedings was to cover the appeal to the US Supreme Court of a critical 2018 decision that left Citgo's US assets and operations vulnerable to claims on theVenezuelan government's more than $150bn in debt. Moving forward to plan a sale of Citgo shares while the appeal continues would cause needless damage to the refiner and PdV, the court said.

Crystallex last week requested a more narrow halt to the case than an open-ended appeal. Skilled attorneys could drag the Supreme Court request out for years, the company argued. The stay should require a speedy petition.

"The stay should be modified in this way so as to remove the incentive for Venezuela and PdV to drag out the Supreme Court proceedings while Crystallex and its creditors go unpaid," Crystallex said.

PdV has not yet responded in court.

Other creditors have meanwhile also requested that US courts speed up proceedings against Venezuela. MUFG Union Bank and Glas Americas last week issued a notice demanding immediate payment of notes and associated interest on $1.7bn in bonds that mature next year. The Guaido shadow government sued earlier this year to nullify those bonds, arguing that President Nicolas Maduro's government lacked the authority to issue them. But the lenders said nothing in precedent or the contract language supported those arguments, and that the agreements were governed by New York, not Venezuelan, law.