Judge Denies Daughter’s Cuba Damages Claim Under TRIA for Father’s Death

Judge Denies Daughter's Cuba Damages Claim Under TRIA for Father's Death
By Patricia Hurtado | May 1, 2015

A federal judge who will sentence BNP Paribas SA Friday for violating
U.S. sanctions against Sudan, Iran and Cuba on Thursday rejected a
Cuban-American woman's bid for compensation for her father's death at
the hands of the Castro regime.

Marilyn Wiederspan, a Nebraska teacher, sought to have a $63.6 million
judgment paid out of almost $9 billion BNP Paribas will forfeit to the
U.S. She obtained the judgment from a Florida circuit court against the
Cuba and Fidel Castro for the 1959 torture and execution of her father,
Jose Velasquez Fernandez, a lieutenant in the Cuban army.

BNP, France's largest bank, admitted in July that it engaged in a
long-running conspiracy to violate U.S. embargoes against the three
nations by processing billions of dollars in banned transactions from
2004 to 2012.

Wiederspan argued she was entitled to a portion of the funds the bank
agreed to forfeit as part of the plea that were tied to Cuba. The
judgment was composed of almost $6.4 billion in penalties for illicit
transactions with Sudan, $686,600 for those with Iran and $1.7 billion
with Cuba.

U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield in Manhattan rejected Wiederspan's
bid to intervene in the case, saying the Florida judgment is against
Cuba and not BNP. Wiederspan failed to show that Cuba has any
"ownership" of the funds that BNP is forfeiting, the judge said.

"Petitioner has a judgment against the Republic of Cuba," Schofield
ruled. "Petitioner has no judgment against BNP."

Wrong Proceeding

Wiederspan "has every right to enforce her valid judgment against the
Republic of Cuba in a proceeding," the judge said. "This is not such a
proceeding."

President Barack Obama in December made a surprise announcement that the
U.S. will seek to establish diplomatic ties with Cuba and ease economic
barriers. The U.S. recognizes more than 5,900 claims against Cuba
stemming from the expropriation of property owned by Americans in the
aftermath of the revolution, according to the Foreign Claims Settlement
Commission, an arm of the Justice Department.

In the bank case, the U.S. has asked Schofield to sentence BNP in
accordance with the plea agreement reached in July. The sentence which
the bank faces on Friday includes a final order forfeiting $8.8 billion
and a fine of $140 million as well as five years' probation, Assistant
U.S. Attorney Andrew Goldstein said in a memo to the court.

Woman's Lawyer

Wiederspan's lawyer, William Sanchez, argued his client was entitled to
the funds under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002. He didn't
immediately return a voice-mail message seeking comment about the decision.

Jim Margolin, a spokesman for Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara,
whose office brought the case, declined to comment on Schofield's ruling.

The case is U.S. v. BNP Paribas 14-cr-00460, U.S. District Court,
Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

Source: Judge Denies Daughter's Cuba Damages Claim Under TRIA for
Father's Death -
http://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2015/05/01/366535.htm