Two Citgo oil executives, brothers Alirio and Jose Luis Zambrano, have filed a lawsuit against their former employer for more than $400 million. The executives were detained in Venezuela for nearly five years under false pretenses, enduring horrendous prison conditions for crimes they did not commit.
The Zambranos were among six Citgo executives who traveled to Venezuela in 2017 for a meeting at the headquarters of PDVSA, Citgo's parent company. They were unexpectedly arrested by masked security agents during the visit.
Following a trial marred by delays and irregularities, a Venezuelan judge convicted the executives, known as the Citgo 6, to prison terms ranging from 8 to 13 years. The charges stemmed from an alleged involvement in a debt financing deal that could have led to Citgo being seized by Wall Street creditors.
The lawsuit, filed in a Houston court, accuses Citgo of conspiring to lure the executives to Venezuela under false pretenses and then abandoning them during their ordeal. It alleges that Citgo's top executives knew the risks of traveling to Venezuela and provided confidential documents that facilitated the men's arrest.
Despite pleas for financial support to mount a defense, Citgo allegedly ignored the families of the detained executives. Even after a U.S.-backed opposition board took control of Citgo and efforts were made to secure their release, the executives' requests for assistance were reportedly disregarded.
The Zambranos, who are Venezuelan-born American citizens, were eventually freed in 2022 as part of a prisoner swap. Their lawsuit follows a similar legal action by another former colleague and cellmate, Tomeu Vadell, against Citgo.
Citgo has not yet responded to the latest lawsuit. However, the company's lawyers have previously dismissed claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress as 'entirely meritless.'
Attorneys for the Zambrano family have criticized Citgo's inaction, alleging that the company knew of the executives' innocence from the beginning but failed to support them throughout their ordeal.
