Black Lion Capital Advisors emphatically stated that neither Juan Guaidó, leading the interim government, nor Carlos Jordá, CEO of the refinery, nor Horacio Medina, president of the Ad Hoc Administrative Board of PDVSA, acted diligently to prevent the auction of CITGO.
This was expressed by Edwin Wells, president of Albemarle Capital, on August 12, 2025, in a letter responding to Crystallex regarding the objections from Venezuelan parties, filed before the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware.
Albemarle Capital advised Juan Guaidó and the interim government in 2021 and indicated that its experience with PDVSA, Horacio Medina, and Carlos Jordá allows it to certify the accuracy of Crystallex’s complaint that the Venezuelan parties “crossed their arms” when they had the chance to “raise the necessary funds to satisfy the judgments of the miner and other creditors.”
The Experience of Albemarle Capital
In his communication to Leonard Stark, judge of the Crystallex International Corp. case against the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, concerning the CITGO auction, Edwin Wells, representing Albemarle Capital, shared his experience as an advisor to Venezuelan parties.
He recalled that in 2017, Venezuela and PDVSA had unpaid judgment debts amounting to over USD 2 billion with Crystallex and ConocoPhillips, and that the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that these two creditors could enforce PDVSA’s judgment debts against the company’s assets in the U.S., including the shares of PDVSA’s subsidiary, PDV Holding Inc., the corporate parent of CITGO Holding Inc. and CITGO.
He noted that in May 2021, as Judge Stark was preparing for the court-ordered sale of the Venezuelan refinery, CITGO’s executive management claimed that the financial covenants in the outstanding debt titles of PDVSA, PDVH, and CITGO prevented the latter from using cash generated by its refining operations or from the sale of stocks or assets to satisfy PDVSA’s unpaid judgment debts to Crystallex and ConocoPhillips.
Wells specified that he wrote to CITGO’s CEO, Carlos Jordá, on May 17, 2021, warning him that PDV Holding and CITGO entities were facing significant risks due to the planned CITGO auction by the Delaware court. He alerted him that a takeover by creditors from Venezuela and/or their assignees could result in “a disintegration of refining assets and infrastructure and the workforce of CITGO.”
Albemarle’s Recommendation to Avoid the CITGO Auction
At that time, Albemarle informed Carlos Jordá that the only way to save PDV Holding and CITGO was for the Ad Hoc Administrative Board of PDVSA and CITGO to work closely together to raise the more than USD 2 billion needed to settle debts with Crystallex and ConocoPhillips before initiating the CITGO auction.
Edwin Wells also reminded that Judge Stark made it clear at that time that he would cancel the sale of PDVH shares if PDVSA paid what it owed to Crystallex and ConocoPhillips. Albemarle presented Jordá with a financing plan to raise the mentioned amount through significant institutional investors with whom they had previously worked.
Wells informed Jordá and Horacio Medina that Crystallex and ConocoPhillips could obtain more than 50% of the shares of PDV Holding. A teleconference was planned among the three men for May 19, 2021. An email was sent to Jordá detailing the financing plan, stating that a major Wall Street law firm had confirmed its viability and that it could be implemented without breaching any outstanding debt covenants of PDVSA, PDV Holding, or CITGO. Albemarle had already received investment offers of USD 1 billion from one of its clients.
However, on the day of the appointment, Horacio Medina was neither present nor participated. The operations director of CITGO, Edgar Rincón; the vice president of Legal Affairs, Jack Lynch; and the CFO, John Zuklic, did participate. During the presentation, Carlos Jordá “did not express any conclusion.”
The Silence of Horacio Medina and Carlos Jordá
Due to Jordá’s silence, Edwin Wells wrote to him on May 25, 2021, and reiterated all the guarantees of the financing plan: “We can provide the more than USD 2 billion needed to save CITGO and PDV Holding, and we would like to help.”
Wells mentions in his communication to Judge Stark that on the same day, Carlos Jordá replied via email: “I will discuss internally and get back to you,” but to this day, he has not heard back from him or his team.
On June 28, 2021, Edwin Wells contacted Alejandro Plaz, former principal partner at McKinsey & Co. and chief of staff to interim president Juan Guaidó in the United States, to alert him of “the situation of PDV Holding-CITGO” and referred to Albemarle’s financial plan to avoid the auction of CITGO. Wells also mentioned his inability to communicate with Horacio Medina.
Juan Guaidó’s Inaction to Prevent the CITGO Auction
Edwin Wells emphasized the urgency of informing Juan Guaidó about these events, “the only person whose authority Horacio respects and whose guidance and recommendations he will follow.” Venezuela “is sure to lose… its majority stake and control over PDV Holding and over the assets and operations of CITGO.”
Despite Alejandro Plaz explaining the seriousness of the matter to Guaidó, he “did not order Horacio Medina or Carlos Jordá to confirm the effectiveness of Albemarle’s financing plan by speaking with the two partners at Milbank Tweed.”
Due to the lack of responses from the Venezuelan parties, Judge Stark did not cancel the sale of the CITGO auction, and over a dozen additional entities whose assets were expropriated obtained arbitration awards that turned into judgments by U.S. courts against Venezuela.
Edwin Wells mentions in his communication to the Delaware court that “As a result of the Venezuelan parties ‘crossing their arms’ from 2017 to at least 2021, the sale process of PDVH is now about to finalize, with a court hearing to determine the new owner(s) of PDVH scheduled to begin on August 18,” he concludes.
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