Houston, February 19, 2020 – Venezuela and Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) filed a petition for the United States Supreme Court to review a decision issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. In July 2019, the Third Circuit upheld a decision by the Delaware District Court in August 2018 that Crystallex International Corp. could attach shares of PDV Holding Inc.' the US subsidiary of PDVSA, to enforce a $1.2 billion arbitration award against the Republic of Venezuela. Venezuela and PDVSA assert the Third Circuit's decision threatens the United States' "urgent foreign-policy objective of supporting the Guaidó administration's efforts to restore democracy to the Republic and stabilize its economy." Petitioners also contend that the Third Circuit’s affirmance of the District Court’s findings that it had jurisdiction over PDVSA to make its ruling and that PDVSA was the alter ego of Venezuela were in conflict with Supreme Court precedent and in conflict with the decisions of other Circuit Courts.
As stated in the petition, "The Guaidó administration is working to establish an orderly debt restructuring process. By allowing a single creditor to use the federal courts to gain preferential treatment, the Third Circuit's decision subverts that process as well as the executive branch's own efforts to support the Guaidó administration and to preserve Venezuelan assets in the United States for the Venezuelan people."