INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED WOMEN'S RIGHTS ADVOCATE FILES SUIT AGAINST CENTRAL BANK OF CURACAO AND SINT MAARTEN FOR THEFT OF PROPERTY

Complaint Asserts Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten Unlawfully Retained Control of Private Assets and Orchestrated the Sale to Notorious Money-Launderer Tied to Central Bank Official

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 17, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Dr. Nina Ansary, an internationally recognized women's rights advocate and award-winning Iranian American author and historian today filed a complaint against the Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten for its illegal expropriation of her equity stake in Parman International B.V. (PIBV) — a Curacao company owned by U.S. investors.  

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According to the complaint, since seizing control of PIBV's insurance subsidiaries and related businesses in 2018 under the guise of an "emergency restructuring" allegedly necessary to bring the insurance subsidiaries  into regulatory compliance, the Central Bank has been engaged in a scheme to systematically loot the assets of the enterprise for the economic and political benefit of its officials, including orchestrating the unnecessary sale at a steep discount of Banco di Caribe to an internationally known money-launderer and crony of the former head of the Central Bank. Now, buoyed by its success, the Central Bank has put plans in place to seize 160 acres of prime real estate in Sint Maarten held by PIBV, even after numerous public attestations by Central Bank officials to the restored fiscal health of the enterprise.

"Long after determining that there is no longer any fiscal 'emergency' or danger of insolvency, the Central Bank of Curacao continues to loot the assets of American investors. It's abundantly clear that this ongoing seizure is not about the health of the enterprise or accountability to policyholders, but only about greed and opportunism by officials at the Central Bank," said Dennis Hranitzky of Quinn Emanuel, Urquhart and Sullivan, an attorney for Dr. Ansary. 

Mr. Hranitzky continued, "The thuggish behavior by officials of the Central Bank of Curacao and Sint Maarten toward Dr. Ansary, an internationally known author and women's rights activist, goes far beyond the theft of her personal investments and includes an audacious campaign of legal and personal intimidation that extends to targeting even her primary residence for seizure. While such behavior is unsurprising given Curacao's reputation as an infamous haven for money-laundering and criminal activity, it is in clear violation of existing treaties between the United States and the Netherlands as well as Dr. Ansary's human rights."

The U.S. State Department categorizes Curacao as a country/jurisdiction of Primary Concern with respect to money-laundering and financial crimes.

SOURCE Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP