Cuban vs. Cuban: 9th Largest Certified Claimant Sues Billionaire Fanjul Family-Controlled Company For Trafficking In Sugar From Cuba To UK. This Lawsuit Could Be A Brawl.

On 2 May 2021, Summit, New Jersey-based Francisco Sugar Company (OTCPK: FRAZ), the 9th largest Certified Claimant (US$53,389,438.37), filed a Libertad Act Title III lawsuit against West Palm Beach, Florida-based ASR Group International, Inc. (2019 revenues approximately US$500 million) relating to a shipment of sugar from the Republic of Cuba to the United Kingdom.  ASR Group International is a part of the commercial holdings of the Fanjul brothers (estimated net worth US$8.2 billion)- Alfonso "Alfy" Fanjul Jr., José "Pepe" Fanjul, Alexander Fanjul, and Andres Fanjul.

The Trump Administration (2021-2021) on 2 May 2019 made operational Title III of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity Act of 1996 (known as “Libertad Act”).  Title III authorizes lawsuits in United States District Courts against companies and individuals who are using a certified claim or non-certified claim where the owner of the certified claim or non-certified claim has not received compensation from the Republic of Cuba or from a third-party who is using (“trafficking”) the asset.   

Seeking Alpha (December 2016): “Francisco Industries (OTCPK:FRAZ).  You thought there is no way to invest in Cuba? Think again. FRAZ allows you to buy a part of a Cuban land claim by what appears to be a business that used to run a sugar mill on the island until the Cuban revolution, during which many US business had their assets seized by the new government. Some of them launched a legal claim to get compensation, and FRAZ did the same. You can see the biggest verified claims in this Washington Post article, and the company is one of them.” 

11 May 2021 Statement from Alfonso Fanjul and Jose “Pepe” Fanjul

”A lawsuit making outrageous claims that ASR Group International, Inc., a company affiliated with the Fanjul family, purchased sugar from Cuba is absolutely false. We are shocked that the plaintiffs and their attorneys filed these false claims given that publicly available records clearly show the sugar shipment at issue in the claim was purchased by and delivered to another company not affiliated in any way with ASR or the Fanjul family. Had the lawyers conducted the slightest diligence, as required by ethical and federal court rules, they would have known their allegation that ASR Group purchased sugar from Cuba was false. The Fanjul family, like many Cuban Americans, lost everything as a result of the Castro regime. To falsely accuse the Fanjuls or any of their affiliated companies of violating the embargo with Cuba is offensive, even more so coming from fellow Cubans. We provided the lawyers with public records demonstrating that ASR Group did not make the purchase of Cuban sugar they cite a week ago, and they have not dismissed the complaint leading us to believe that their conduct is malicious and aimed only at tarnishing the reputation of ASR Group and the Fanjul family. ASR also had actual knowledge of Cuba’s confiscation of Francisco. ASR executive José F. Fanjul, Jr.’s father has owned 3,989 shares of Francisco for many years. José F. Fanjul, Jr.’s grandfather, Alfonso Fanjul, worked for Francisco prior to confiscation and 6 Through its wholly owned subsidiary Compañia Maritima Guayabal, S.A., Francisco was awarded the Port of Guayabal concession pursuant to Fulgencio Batista’s Presidential Decree No. 3,749, dated November 10, 1955. That Decree was published in La Gaceta de La Habana on November 15, 1955.”   LINK To Peru Customs Document

ASR Group International brands include Domino Sugar, C&H, Repath, Tate & Lyle, Sidul, SRB, Belize, Sugar, Ingenio San Nicolas, and Tellus.  “Florida Crystals Corporation and Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida, two family-owned sugarcane farmers and millers, came together more than 20 years ago to form a strategic partnership to begin large-scale refining of their raw sugar. The collaboration laid the groundwork for what would quickly become the world's most successful and innovative cane sugar company: ASR Group.  Florida Crystals Corporation was founded by the Fanjul family in South Florida, in the United States in 1960 as a sugarcane farming and milling company. Its first harvest of 4,000 acres in Palm Beach County yielded 10,000 tons of raw sugar. The family has a long tradition in sugarcane, dating back to 1850 in Cuba, and they understood the key to success meant expanding their land holdings in order to secure a supply of sugarcane for their mills. Today, the company farms more than 190,000 acres in Florida where it owns two sugar mills, a sugar refinery, a packaging and distribution center and a rice mill.”  The company has substantial non-certified non-filed claims against the Republic of Cuba.  

North American Congress on Latin America (February 2014): “The Washington Post made a splash Sunday with a long feature on Palm Beach, FL-based sugar magnate and Cuban exile Alfonso “Alfy” Fanjul.  The headline: “Sugar tycoon...now open to investing in Cuba under the right circumstances.”  The article brings to public light what has been an open secret for some time now: over the last few years, Fanjul- a once stalwart funder of anti-Castro causes and organizations like the Cuban American National Foundation and the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC (the pro-embargo lobby)- has travelled to Cuba at least twice [April 2012 and February 2013] as part of delegations organized by the Brookings Institution.  On the island, he has met with Cuba’s Foreign Minister and apparently toured under-producing state-owned sugar mills with an eye to future investments.”

Francisco Industries, Inc. v. ASR Group International, Inc. [2:21-cv-14188]
Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton PA (plaintiff)

Complaint Not Available (filed 5/2/21)

Francisco Industries, Inc. v. ASR Group International, Inc. [2:21-cv-14189]
Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton PA (plaintiff)

Link To 92-Page Complaint (5/2/21)

Francisco Industries, Inc. v. ASR Group International, Inc. [1:21-cv-21679]
Kozyak Tropin & Throckmorton PA (plaintiff)

Link To 92-Page Complaint (5/2/21)

Irony? The Plaintiff has a shipping document. The Defendant has a shipping document which it maintains contradicts the Plaintiff's shipping document. The government of the Republic of Cuba could provide shipping documents to the Plaintiff and Defendant. The irony- could the government of the Republic of Cuba provide to evidence to exonerate a defendant in a Libertad Act Title III lawsuit- where the defendant is a company owned by the Cuban descendants of those from whom the government of the Republic of Cuba expropriated assets without compensation.

Excerpts:

ASR violated Helms-Burton by purchasing Francisco-grown cane sugar and exporting that sugar from the Port of Guayabal to ASR’s refinery in London. 

As just one example, on or about July 27, 2016, ASR knowingly and intentionally purchased a shipment of cane sugar that all presently known facts suggest derived from Francisco’s confiscated assets north of Guayabal. Francisco’s arable land, as well as sugar produced by that land, constitutes confiscated property as defined by the Helms-Burton Act. 

AZCUBA, an alter ego of the Cuban government, maintains a monopoly on all aspects of the sugar business in Cuba. AZCUBA is as trafficker according to Helms-Burton because it “possesses”, “manages”, “uses” or “holds an interest in” Francisco’s sugar growing land, and it engaged in “a commercial activity using or otherwise benefitting from confiscated property” when it sold Francisco-grown sugar.  The Francisco-grown sugar was shipped from the Port of Guayabal on July 27, 2016, and delivered to ASR’s London refinery on August 16, 2016.

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