formerly Bronx Grit Chamber
Once upon a time, a man in Canada tried to build a gold mine in Venezuela. Deep in the jungle, there is twenty million ounces of gold, he said. I can get it for a tenth of the world market price and we will make great wealth.
The story of the Gold that never was
He gathered his friends and they set out on their adventure. SNC Lavelin endorsed their plan, investors flocked from far and wide. And why not. This would be the greatest mine in the world.
But the great man heard of the great wealth. It shalt not be theirs. He declared.
And so the mine was no longer theirs. Indeed the mine was nothing.
They took him to the World Court and they won.
The great man died.
And still they had no mine nor the money they spent to build it deep in the jungle.The new apprentice prince would not talk to them.So the man in Canada said, this money they owe us, it is one and the same as the money they hold here. The new apprentice prince said no, I have no money in North America. But what about Citgo, said the man in Canada.Citgo, that is not mine, that belongs to my son, Peter David Vincent's company, which belongs to his son's company, which belongs to his son's company. I have nothing to do with my son or his sons.
Meanwhile President Obama said no one could buy or sell from or to the apprentice prince. He said the apprentice prince was an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and declared a national emergency to deal with that threat.The man in Canada said to President Obama, if the apprentice prince will not pay me my gold, will you give me Citgo.President Obama deliberated and his judges deliberated and he left office. Before he left he gave the man in Canada a certificate, a magic paper called an OFAC 5E. OFAC 5E allowed the man in Canada to buy and sell no matter what the national emergency was but he could only use it if a judge agreed.Meanwhile the new President Trump thought he could get rid of the apprentice prince. He would make a new president, little Guido, who would clean up the mess left over from the great man and made worse by the apprentice prince who still could not become a great man no matter how hard he tried.
But Peter David Vincent, or as his friends called him, PDVSA had some ideas of his own to help out his dad. If he was going to lose Citgo anyway, why not leave it in friendly hands. He appealed to the old rich babushka, Rosneft and the sly American foxes at BlackRock and GoldmanSachs, if you help me out of this jam and I die, I will give you Citgo, and if I survive I will give you a great reward.
The judges deliberated while President Trump and PDVSA and BlackRock and even little Guido got involved, and even though they were no fans of the apprentice prince, they each stood forward to beg the judge not to give Citgo to the man in Canada.
So the man in Canada writes many reports, and pays many lawyers, and cries for justice.
But still he digs no gold. And so it was for ever after.
Sources:
§ 591.407 Settlement agreements and enforcement of certain orders through judicial process.
Notwithstanding the existence of any general license issued under this part, or issued under any Executive order issued pursuant to the national emergency declared in E.O. 13692, the entry into a settlement agreement or the enforcement of any lien, judgment, arbitral award, decree, or other order through execution, garnishment, or other judicial process purporting to transfer or otherwise alter or affect property or interests in property blocked pursuant to § 591.201, as referenced in § 591.506(c), is prohibited unless authorized pursuant to a specific license issued by OFAC pursuant to this part.
[84 FR 64417, Nov. 22, 2019]