Venezuela Fails in Bid to Upend $59 Million Arbitration Award

A federal district court correctly enforced a $59 million international arbitration award against Venezuela in a corporate dividends dispute, the DC Circuit ruled Friday.

The country didn’t demonstrate that enforcing Barbados-based company Venezuela US SRL’s award would improperly disregard the US government’s decision to cease recognition of Nicolás Maduro as the legitimate president of the country, which is what the Trump administration did in 2020, Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said in a split decision to affirm the award.

Upholding the award wouldn’t infringe on the president’s power to ...