Tomeu Vadell, one of the so-called Citgo 6 imprisoned by the Venezuelan government in 2017 and released last year, has sued Citgo, seeking $100 million. He is pictured in July 2015 in a provided by daughter Cristina Vadell.Tomeu Vadell, one of the so-called Citgo 6 imprisoned by the Venezuelan government in 2017 and released last year, has sued Citgo, claiming the company was responsible for his five-year detention.
In a suit filed in Harris County court, Vadell claims"Citgo had not provided him with a clear explanation for why they wanted him to go and Tomeu had not traveled to Venezuela for Citgo in many years. Frankly, his job had very little connection, if any, to operations in Venezuela." The Citgo 6 executives were lured to Venezuela for what they were told was a budget meeting for PDVSA, the state-owned oil company and Houston-based Citgo's parent company. Once in Venezuela, they were arrested by masked men with rifles and accused of conspiring to sell off $4 billion in Citgo bonds for their own personal gain.“We have laid out in his lawsuit all the ways Citgo was grossly negligent by abandoning Mr.
“We welcomed Mr. Vadell home and are grateful he’s back with his family. We greatly sympathize with Mr. Vadell for everything he and his family have been through," the company said in an emailed statement."That said, we disagree with this lawsuit, which irresponsibly equates Citgo, an American company based in Houston, with an authoritarian regime in Venezuela.
Vadell was among those released in October following a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Venezuela, demanded by Maduro, who sought clemency for two family members jailed in the U.S. on drug smuggling convictions.