Could Be Politically-Charged: Wind Turbine Company Sued Using Libertad Act By U.S. Company- Case Involves Cuba, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Florida, Texas, New Jersey, New York
/The 26th Libertad Act lawsuit by 3rd-largest certified claimant could be the most politically-charged as it involves a People’s Republic of China-based company. Chicago, Illinois-based Goldwind Americas is identified as a Subsidiary, R&D Institution and International Center.
Urumqi, China-based Xinjiang Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd (2019 revenues approximately US$5.4 billion) is “a world leading wind turbine technology and energy solutions provider. Through the implementation and investment in industry-leading turbine technology, water treatment solutions and other green energy technological ventures, Goldwind has been hailed as one of China’s most innovative companies. The company now operates on 6 continents, has more than 8,000 employees, and more than 60 GW of installed wind capacity.”
”Goldwind first began its international endeavors in 2008 by delivering 6 units of GW 50/750kW wind turbines to Cuba, Latin America. This first international contract has led to the global expansion of Goldwind on six continents. To date, 2017, Goldwind has established itself with installations in the South American markets of Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia and Cuba and with strong potential markets in Brazil and Argentina.”
“HAVANA, Jan. 21 2018 (Xinhua) -- Cuba aims to become one of the more than 100 countries that will meet their energy demands with renewable sources like wind, water or sunlight by 2050, as experts predict. To reach that goal, Cuba plans to produce around 24 percent of its total energy needs from different renewable sources by 2030. It is an ambitious target given that as of 2006, the island nation generated only 4.3 percent of its energy from renewable sources. One of the key projects currently under construction is a vast complex consisting of two wind farms, La Herradura 1 and La Herradura 2, located in the province of Las Tunas, some 600 km east of Havana. They will generate around 101 Megawatts (MW) of energy that will be fed into the National Electric System. Behind the complex is Chinese technology, according to Adela Alvarez, an official at Cuba's Integrated Wind Energy Management company. Cuban officials chose two Chinese companies to supply the project -- Goldwind Science and Technology Co., a global provider of wind turbines over the last three years, and Dongfang Electric Corporation, a firm specializing in renewable energies and high technology. La Herradura 1 will be equipped with 34 Goldwind wind turbines measuring 65 meters in height with three 37-meter blades, generating 1.5 MW of power distributed in five circuits. La Herradura 2 will feature 20 Dongfang wind turbines of 2.5 MW each, which will contribute a total of 50 MW to Cuba's electric grid. Miguel Casi, an official from Cuba's Electric Union, said the first wind farm will save Cuba nearly 40,000 tons of fuel a year, and stop nearly 130,000 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) from being released into the atmosphere. "We estimate the second wind farm could save 39,000 tons of fuel a year, as well as 127,000 tons of CO2," Casi said. The goal is to have at least one circuit operating by the end of this year. Cuba currently has more than 9,300 windmills and 20 generators distributed in the nation's four existing wind farms, located in the central province of Ciego de Avila, in the southern Isle of Youth as well as in the northeast province of Holguin, where there are two. Total installed capacity currently stands at 11.7 MW, which means the Caribbean nation ranks 69th worldwide in wind energy.”
Excerpts From The Complaint:
“American Sugar’s lucrative business did not go unnoticed by the regime formed in the aftermath of the Cuban Revolution. Within about a year, from 1959 to 1960, the Cuban government destroyed American Sugar’s business, expropriating its assets in Cuba without a penny of compensation for this illegal and unjust expropriation. Since then, the Cuban government has used American Sugar’s confiscated property to further its own ends, including permitting for-profit businesses such as Defendants to use and benefit from that property. Defendants, which are engaged in the wind power equipment and shipping/transportation businesses, used Puerto Carupano (and/or financially benefitted from others’ use of that port) to deliver equipment for use in the Herradura Wind Farm Project- the largest wind power project in Cuba, with a price tag in the hundreds of millions of dollars- located just 15 miles away. Specifically, on at least two occasions in late 2018 and early 2019, Goldwind Science, Goldwind International, and other suppliers to the Herradura Wind Farm Project shipped wind farm equipment to a Cuban state-owned entity associated with the project. The equipment was unloaded at Puerto Carupano. DSV provided transportation and logistical services to these suppliers in order to ship their wind farm equipment to Cuba via Puerto Carupano. BBC USA and BBC Singapore, in turn, chartered and operated shipping vessels that carried and unloaded wind farm equipment at Puerto Carupano to the benefit of Goldwind Science and other suppliers to the Herradura Wind Farm Project.”
NORTH AMERICAN SUGAR INDUSTRIES INC., V. XINJIANG GOLDWIND SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD., GOLDWIND INTERNATIONAL HOLDINGS (HK) LTD., DSV AIR & SEA INC., BBC CHARTERING USA, LLC, and BBC CHARTERING SINGAPORE PTE LTD., [1:20-cv-22471; Southern Florida District].
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (Plaintiff)
Mandel & Mandel (Plaintiff)
TBA (defendant)
LINK To Complaint (15 June 2020)
LINK To Court Filings (15 June 2020)
LINK To Libertad Act Lawsuit Statistics
Certified Claims Background
There are 8,821 claims of which 5,913 awards valued at US$1,902,202,284.95 were certified by the United States Foreign Claims Settlement Commission (USFCSC) and have not been resolved for nearing sixty years (some assets were officially confiscated in the 1960’s, some in the 1970’s and some in the 1990’s). The USFCSC permitted simple interest (not compound interest) of 6% per annum (approximately US$114,132,137.10); with the approximate current value of the 5,913 certified claims US$8.7 billion.
The first asset to be expropriated by the Republic of Cuba was an oil refinery in 1960 owned by White Plains, New York-based Texaco, Inc., now a subsidiary of San Ramon, California-based Chevron Corporation (USFCSC: CU-1331/CU-1332/CU-1333 valued at US$56,196,422.73).
The largest certified claim (Cuban Electric Company) valued at US$267,568,413.62 is controlled by Boca Raton, Florida-based Office Depot, Inc. The second-largest certified claim (International Telephone and Telegraph Co, ITT as Trustee, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.) valued at US$181,808,794.14 is controlled by Bethesda, Maryland-based Marriott International; the certified claim also includes land adjacent to the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana, Republic of Cuba. The third-largest certified claim valued at US$97,373,414.72 is controlled by New York, New York-based North American Sugar Industries, Inc. The smallest certified claim is by Sara W. Fishman in the amount of US$1.00 with reference to the Cuban-Venezuelan Oil Voting Trust.
The two (2) largest certified claims total US$449,377,207.76, representing 24% of the total value of the certified claims. Thirty (30) certified claimants hold 56% of the total value of the certified claims. This concentration of value creates an efficient pathway towards a settlement.
