Interamerican Asset Management Fund Ltd. v. Ortega T. (In re Ortega T.)

573 B.R. 284
CourtUnited States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida.
DecidedJune 22, 2017
DocketCase No. 15-20614-LMI; Adv. Proc. No. 16-01197-LMI
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 573 B.R. 284 (Interamerican Asset Management Fund Ltd. v. Ortega T. (In re Ortega T.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Bankruptcy Court, S.D. Florida. primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Interamerican Asset Management Fund Ltd. v. Ortega T. (In re Ortega T.), 573 B.R. 284 (Fla. 2017).

Opinion

[288]*288AMENDED MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF DEFENDANT AND DENYING DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT AND DENYING PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR PARTIAL SUMMARY JUDGMENT1

Laurel M. Isicoff, Chief United States Bankruptcy Judge

This matter came before me for a hearing on January 31, 2017, on the Motion for Summary Judgment of the Defendant Leonidas Ortega T (the “Debtor” or the “Defendant”) (EOF # 50) (the “Debtor’s Motion”) and the Motion for Partial Summary Judgment of the Plaintiff Interamerican Asset Management Fund Limited (“IAMF” or the “Plaintiff’) (EOF #51) (the “Plaintiffs Motion”). At issue is whether the Plaintiff may rely on a ruling issued by the Judicial Committee of Her Majesty’s Privy Council (the “Privy Council”) in the United Kingdom in determining whether the Plaintiffs judgment in the amount of US$191,953,517.50 (later increased by US$381,886,435.00 due to the inclusion of compound interest) ( the “Judgment”) is non-dischargeable under either 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(2) or 11 U.S.C. § 523(a)(6) or, conversely, whether the Debtor may rely on rulings of the lower courts to dispose of these claims in Debt- or’s favor.2 For the reasons set forth below, both the Debtor’s Motion and the Plaintiffs Motion are denied; however, summary judgment is granted in favor of the Debtor on Counts I and III of the Complaint. -

I. BACKGROUND3

The Debtor is a member of the Ortega Trujillo family, a prominent family in the Ecuadorian business world. See Damages Judgment ¶ 10. The Debtor and his brothers, Luis and Jaime Ortega Trujillo (two of the other Respondents4 in the Judgment), were three of the principal shareholding owners and officers of Conticorp, an Ecuadorian company. Id. ¶ 1. Conticorp owned Grupo Financiero Conticorp SA (“GFC”), whose principal subsidiary was a large commercial bank in Ecuador called Banco Continental SA (“Banco Continental”). Id. Banco Continental in turn owned Banco Continental Overseas NV (“BCO Curacao”), incorporated in the Netherlands Antilles. Id. IAMF was a wholly owned subsidiary of BCO Curacao. See id. ¶ 14. At all relevant times, the Debtor was executive president of Conticorp, GFC, and Banco Continental. Id. ¶ 10.

A. Establishment and Creation of IAMF

Over the years, the Respondents and their affiliated companies borrowed substantial sums from BCO Curacao. ¶2. In 1994, regulations in the Netherlands Antilles required BCO Curacao to reduce its related-party lending. Id. ¶ 14. in response, the Respondents came up with a plan under which BCO Curacao’s loan portfolio would be transferred to a Bahamian mutual fund and where BCO Curacao would acquire participating shares in that [289]*289fund. Id. The Respondents arranged for the incorporation of IAMF, and BCO Curacao transferred its portfolio of related-party loans to IAMF. Id. ¶ 14. Ansbacher (Bahamas) Limited (“Ansbacher”) was appointed as IAMF’s administrator and Michael Taylor (“Taylor”) as its sole director and investment adviser. Id. ¶ 13.

B. The Transactions

In the mid-1990s, Ecuador underwent a financial crisis. In August 1995, Banco Continental and BCO Curacao both were experiencing financial difficulties, and .someone named Carlos Baquerizo introduced the Respondents to the concept of using global depository receipts representing equity shares of GFC (the “GDRs”)5 as a means of raising capital. Id: ¶¶ 70-71. At this point, to receive a loan from the Central Bank of Ecuador, the Monetary Board, which governs that bank, required Banco Continental to be “overseen by the Banking Superintendence,” and to take steps to “overcome its problem of liquidity” and focus on the accelerating “its process of opening up capital that could allow it to attain new resources in line with the restructuring of its liabilities...” ¶77. Around this time, the Respondents made the decision to sell the GDRs to IAMF in exchange for IAMF’s portfolio of lending to Conticorp and Conticorp-related companies. Id, ¶ 123.

The Respondents instructed Taylor to cause IAMF to purchase the GDRs in three transactions: the first in December 1995, the second in January 1996, and the third in March 1996 (“First Transaction,” “Second Transaction,” “Third Transaction,” respectively, and collectively, the “Transactions”). Id. ¶¶ 16-18, 77. Through the Transactions, IAMF exchanged all of its assets, including cash, portfolios of loans, and shareholdings for the GDRs. Id. ¶¶ 16-18. However, the GDRs could not be valued, “in any way commensurate with that of the cash, loans and shares which IAMF was surrendering and the risks it was incurring by accepting the GDRs and shares in place of its previous assets.” Id. ¶ 2.

Ultimately, despite a bailout loan from the government of Ecuador, both Banco Continental and BCO Curacao failed and were forced into liquidation,

C. The Underlying Litigation

IAMF filed suit against the Debtor in 1996. Id. ¶ 113. Initially, IAMF sought recovery under several theories, including dishonest assistance, fraud, deceit, and fraudulent conveyance. The Bahamian trial court and first appellate court (collectively “the lower courts”) decided in favor of the Debtor under each theory of recovery. IAMF appealed those rulings to the Privy Council, however the appeal only sought reconsideration of the ruling on the claims of dishonest assistance; the other rulings of the lower courts were left unchallenged.

Dishonest assistance, also called “knowing assistance” is a type of third-party liability that exists under UK trust law.6 Any person who assists in a breach of [290]*290a fiduciary duty will personally be liable to the beneficiaries of that fiduciary duty for any loss caused by that breach of duty if the person has been found to have acted dishonestly. See, e.g., Royal Brunei Airlines Sdn Bhd v. Tan, B.C.C. 899 (1995).

In analyzing whether a party has rendered dishonest assistance, courts examine whether: (1) there was a breach of trust or fiduciary duty by someone other than the third party; (2) the third party procured or aided in the subject misfeasance or breach; and (3) the third party did so with a dishonest state of mind. See Barlow Clowes Int’l Ltd. v. Eurotrust Int'l Ltd., 1 W.L.R. 1476 (2006); Twinsectra Ltd. v. Yardley, 2 A.C. 164 (2002); Royal Brunei, B.C.C. at 899.

D. Dishonest assistance is judged by an objective standard not a subjective standard

In reversing the appellate court’s decision that the Debtor was not liable to IAMF for dishonest assistance, the Privy Council held that dishonest assistance must be viewed from an objective standard, not the subjective standard applied by the lower courts. The Privy Council not only ruled that the two lower courts had applied the wrong standard to the dishonest assistance claim, the Privy Council then took what it'recognized as an extraordinary step, and made its own findings based on the evidence from the trial court proceeding, in determining that, under an

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573 B.R. 284, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/interamerican-asset-management-fund-ltd-v-ortega-t-in-re-ortega-t-flsb-2017.