(Reuters) – A U.S. federal appeals court on Monday rejected an appeal by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company to set aside an order allowing a Canadian gold mining company to seize shares in its U.S. refining unit, Citgo Petroleum Corp.
Crystallex International Corp had won the $1.4 billion judgment as compensation for the expropriation of its assets in Venezuela under late leftist President Hugo Chavez. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said a lower court was right to attach Petroleos de Venezuela’s shares of its U.S. unit, which owns Citgo.
“The District Court acted within its jurisdiction when it issued a writ of attachment on PDVSA’s shares of PDVH to satisfy Crystellex’s judgment against Venezuela, and the PDVH shares are not immune from attachment,” Judge Leonard Stark wrote, referring to PDVSA’s U.S. unit.
PDVSA did not respond to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear whether PDVSA will ask the court to reconsider the decision, or appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In a statement, Crystallex Chief Executive Officer Bob Fung said the company was “pleased” by the decision” and looked forward to “proceeding with our lien to recover our expropriated investment in Venezuela.”
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