Diaz Reus International Law Firm has been included in the prestigious 2022 Global Investigations Review annual guide, the GIR 100.
The GIR 100 is a guide to the world’s leading firms to turn to during the lifecycle of an investigation and its aftermath. Based on extensive research, the GIR selects 100 law firms and 12 investigations consultancies from around the world able to handle sophisticated cross-border government-led and internal investigations and related settlement negotiations or prosecutions of corporates and individuals.
For corporate counsel, knowing which firm, or firms, to turn to during a crisis – sometimes at a moment’s notice – is of the utmost importance. In the most extreme cases, getting the right external counsel – with experienced people in the necessary locations – can mean the difference between sinking and swimming for a company under government scrutiny. Further top-notch criminal defence lawyers are needed to represent the individuals caught up in such investigations as witnesses or suspects.
GIR100 commented that “Diaz Reus has obtained plenty of work advising those caught up US investigations into corruption at Venezuelan state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
The firm advised Edoardo Orsoni, a former general counsel at PDVSA, who pleaded guilty for his role in a bribery scheme, GIR previously reported. In April 2021, Orsoni was sentenced to three years of probation, avoiding prison time.
Dias Reus also represented Hector Nuñez Troyano, a former PDVSA official who pleaded guilty in US court to participating in a bribery scheme involving Florida-based asphalt company Sargeant Marine, GIR reported in 2020. In 2020, the company settled with the DOJ and agreed to pay $16.6 million to resolve the charges. US prosecutors charged Nuñez, along with several other PDVSA officials, with taking bribes from Sargeant Marine’s executives.
Recently, the firm has represented former Venezuelan treasurer, Alejandro Andrade, as he cooperates with the DOJ in a case brought against his successor, Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillén, and her husband, Adrián José Velásquez Figueroa. The pair were found guilty in December 2022 of accepting millions in bribes and moving the money through Florida.
As well as advising individuals in some of the biggest corruption probes on the DOJ’s books, the firm is helping affected Latin American governments and state-run entities recover lost assets.
Diaz Reus was hired by Juan Guaidó’s administration to locate and seize assets allegedly stolen from the Venezuelan government, and secure restitution in foreign bribery cases brought against former government officials under the regimes of late President Hugo Chavez and current President Nicholas Maduro.”
