BRIDGETOWN: A legal battle over the estimated $10 billion fortune of late Venezuelan billionaire Oswaldo Cisneros has reached the Supreme Court of Barbados, where his daughter Maria Ela Cisneros Fontanals is pursuing a case against her stepmother, Mireya Dafne Blavia Gómez de Cisneros.
The case, listed as CIV0938/2024, was before Justice Bryan Weekes in Bridgetown this week, according to court records.
The dispute is part of a broader inheritance battle involving the billionaire’s estate, family trusts and business interests in telecommunications, oil and real estate.
Cisneros died in November 2020, leaving behind an extensive business empire and a family inheritance dispute involving his widow and children from previous marriages.
The case also brings renewed scrutiny to the succession arrangements surrounding his estate, including allegations of financial irregularities, tax liabilities and disputes over the management of family businesses.
Cisneros had three daughters from his marriage to Cuban-born businesswoman and art collector Ella Fontanals-Cisneros: Maritza Blanca Cisneros Fontanals, Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals and Maria Ela Cisneros Fontanals.
He married Mireya Blavia in 1999. During their marriage, the couple adopted six children from Romania and Colombia.
According to records from Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, Cisneros left a will naming his wife and all nine children as heirs, with provisions for the estate to be divided equally among them.
However, the inheritance arrangements became the subject of legal challenges, including a dispute over the participation of the adopted children in succession proceedings.
In August 2021, Venezuela’s Social Cassation Chamber ruled that foreign adoption judgments had not undergone the legal recognition procedure known as exequatur, excluding the adopted children from certain proceedings.
The ruling was overturned in January 2022 when the Constitutional Chamber annulled the earlier decision, finding that qualifying international adoptions recognized under the Hague Convention did not require the additional procedure.
The inheritance dispute has also extended to criminal proceedings. Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals filed a complaint in Venezuela alleging private violence, extortion and association to commit crimes against her stepmother.
Venezuelan government sources have separately alleged that Blavia failed to meet financial and investment commitments linked to the family’s commercial interests.
Officials have said the estate was valued by Venezuela’s tax authority, SENIAT, at more than $10 billion, with a potential inheritance tax liability exceeding $3 billion.
One official alleged that authorities had no record of the tax being paid and were examining whether the family’s trust and succession arrangements had been manipulated to secure greater control over the estate.
The scrutiny has also focused on Digitel, one of Venezuela’s major telecommunications operators, and the family’s oil and real estate interests.
Government sources have alleged that investment commitments were neglected while businesses continued generating substantial revenues.
A former senior executive who worked on behalf of Blavia alleged that major businesses had been treated as sources of cash rather than receiving the infrastructure investment needed to sustain their operations.
The executive said repeated warnings about underinvestment and management failures had been ignored.
Venezuelan government sources have also alleged that Blavia maintained close political and commercial ties with former President Nicolás Maduro and individuals associated with his administration.
Some officials have made further allegations involving bribery, improper political influence and links to criminal networks.
A legal source working for Blavia acknowledged that some family businesses had experienced management problems, insufficient investment and difficulties meeting commercial commitments, but attributed those issues partly to U.S. sanctions affecting Venezuela’s financial system.
The source said Blavia’s representatives were aware of the scrutiny and intended to cooperate with authorities.
The Barbados proceedings mark the latest development in a prolonged dispute over the billionaire’s estate, with competing claims over inheritance rights, business management and the distribution of assets.
