A holder of defaulted Venezuelan bonds is contemplating an attempt to seize Florida seafront apartments belonging to Raul Gorrin, a media mogul accused by U.S. prosecutors of bribing Venezuelan officials to win contracts, court filings show.
The possible move by Casa Express Corp, a little-known Florida firm that was among the first to sue
here the crisis-stricken South American country for defaulting on bonds, shows how creditors are searching increasingly far afield for assets tied to Venezuela.
A U.S. federal judge in the Southern District of New York ruled in November 2020 that Casa Express was entitled to collect $43.2 million from Venezuela in unpaid obligations under two bonds the country defaulted on in 2018 amid a prolonged economic collapse.
In August 2021, the company registered that judgment in a federal court in Florida. The apartments there are owned by two Delaware-registered companies the United States says are owned or controlled by Gorrin
here - Posh 8 Dynamic Inc and Planet 2 Reaching Inc, Miami-Dade county records show.
In an Oct. 1 filing, an attorney for the two companies said Casa Express had compelled them “to file an affidavit stating why certain real property should not be applied toward the satisfaction of the judgment.” The filing was first reported by financial information provider REDD.
RTRS