In the News

The legacy owners of a nationalized Cuban bank sued to recover losses from Societe Generale SA, which in November settled U.S. charges that the French bank helped Cuba evade American economic sanctions.

Garcia’s family had owned a business in Santiago de Cuba, one of the island’s largest cities, until Fidel Castro’s government took it and imprisoned him for speaking out in 1961. For Garcia’s father Jose Antonio Garcia, disagreeing with Castro’s communist ideas and policies meant 12 years behind bars.

Los propietarios por legado de un banco cubano nacionalizado demandaron para recuperar pérdidas causadas por Société Génerale SA, que en noviembre resolvió las acusaciones en EE.UU. de que el banco francés ayudó a Cuba a evadir las sanciones económicas estadounidenses.

The family of the former owners of a Cuban bank seized by Fidel Castro’s government nearly six decades ago sued Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) for approximately $792 million, saying the French bank owes damages for circumventing U.S. sanctions against Cuba.

A Manhattan federal judge tasked counsel for a formerly private Cuba bank Monday with explaining why, under new Trump administration policy, it should get a $456 million chunk of $717 million that Societe Generale agreed to pay the U.S. government for violating Cuba sanctions.

As lawyers, we are mostly allergic to vulnerability, taking off the masks that we wear on a daily basis and being honest with ourselves and our colleagues.  The truth is, I love being a lawyer, it is the privilege of my life to do what I love to do with partners whom I love to practice with. Unfortunately a commercial litigator, there are always winners and losers, and each side is always looking for a competitive or strategic advantage. It is a high-stress environment, and no side ever wants to “blink” first.