$10 billion fortune, one bitter battle: Cisneros widow faces questions over inheritance, Digitel

CARACAS: The battle over the fortune of the late Venezuelan billionaire Oswaldo Cisneros has moved from a family will to the country’s highest court and a criminal complaint, and now faces fresh allegations from government sources.

At stake is an estate linked to telecommunications giant Digitel, oil, real estate and other businesses, which Venezuelan government sources say tax authorities valued at more than $10 billion.

The family at the centre of the case consists of Oswaldo’s widow, Mireya Blavia de Cisneros; his three daughters from his first marriage, Claudia Susana, Maritza Blanca and María Ella Cisneros Fontanals; and six children adopted by Oswaldo and Mireya in Romania and Colombia: Carmen Elena, Camila Roxana, Alfonso Olaf, Oswaldo Antonio, Laura Gissel and Carla Giovana. Oswaldo and Mireya had no biological children.

December 2017. Oswaldo’s closed will is registered in Venezuela, naming Mireya and all nine children as his “sole and universal heirs”. Lawyers for the three daughters later question these arrangements, alleging they disadvantaged the daughters by giving the six adopted children greater collective influence over family interests.

November 8, 2020. Oswaldo Cisneros dies in Miami. A bitter dispute erupts, pitting the Cisneros-Fontanals branch against Mireya and the six adopted children over the children’s inheritance rights, the testamentary arrangements and administration of the estate. The litigation is accompanied by allegations that Mireya sought majority control of family trusts and businesses through the six children’s voting strength.

May 12, 2021. Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals, describing herself as a legitimate, compulsory and testamentary heir, brings the principal legal challenge.

She contests the six children’s standing, arguing that their Romanian and Colombian adoption judgments never underwent exequátur, the procedure by which certain foreign judgments are formally recognised in Venezuela, and so cannot produce legal effects there or establish them as Oswaldo’s children for inheritance purposes.

July 2021. A Caracas court admits a separate criminal complaint by Claudia against Mireya alleging private violence, extortion and association to commit crimes. Claudia alleges threats, coercion and other unlawful pressure intended to compel her to perform or tolerate acts she was not legally required to accept, and conduct intended to secure a financial advantage or cause her financial loss. The admission is not a finding of guilt, and the available material does not establish the complaint’s final outcome.

August 3, 2021. The Social Cassation Chamber of Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal holds that the foreign adoption decisions required exequátur, rules that the six lacked standing in the relevant succession proceedings and orders related proceedings archived.

January 31, 2022. After Mireya seeks constitutional review, the Constitutional Chamber annuls the August 2021 judgment, finding that qualifying international adoptions governed by the Hague Convention did not require the additional exequátur. The ruling defeats the attempt to exclude the six on that ground but does not resolve every issue in the dispute.

Venezuelan government sources now allege that the adoptions were part of a long-term arrangement that increased the Cisneros-Blavia side’s voting strength, giving Mireya’s branch majority influence over trusts and businesses after Oswaldo’s death, potentially at the daughters’ expense. One official alleged irregularities and possible fabrication in the adoptions, claiming they were used in a scheme to obtain majority voting control of the family trust. These allegations have not been established by the court rulings.

The same sources allege the SENIAT tax authority calculated a potential inheritance-tax liability exceeding $3 billion. One official claimed there was no record of payment and that authorities were examining inheritance and succession-tax obligations. The figures and payment status have not been independently verified.

Government sources have also alleged wider personal and corporate tax liabilities, underinvestment, bribery, political kickbacks and irregularities involving family-linked businesses, including Digitel, one of Venezuela’s largest mobile operators, and oil and real estate interests. Officials have alleged failures to meet investment commitments and possible corruption in business dealings during the presidency of Nicolás Maduro. Government sources have described Mireya as a close ally of the former president and raised suspicions that she has continued lobbying on his behalf, claims that require independent corroboration.

A legal source representing Mireya disputed aspects of the government’s allegations, while acknowledging problems with underinvestment and unfulfilled commitments and attributing some of them to US sanctions affecting Venezuela’s financial system. A legal representative said Mireya would continue to contest the legal challenges brought by Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals.