A dense web of offshore corporations, complex international law, and a defiant CEO are clouding the future of the Miami Seaquarium, where a new, lender-appointed management team is trying to wrest control and cut a deal with Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine Cava, court records show.
The rifts were exposed at a bankruptcy hearing in Delaware last week, where a federal judge said she’s most worried about animal welfare and the wages for the employees who care for them. The Seaquarium is a tourism fixture on Miami’s Virginia Key and was once the home of the 1960s TV show, “Flipper,” and the late killer whale Lolita, but many local leaders want to close it.
In March, saying the Seaquarium’s parent company had defaulted on financial obligations and was financially struggling, a lender-backed group asserted control of the company’s 30 attractions in eight countries and filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case.
READ MORE: Troubled Miami Seaquarium files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection
In court papers, the company said it was more than $200 million in debt and wasn’t paying its vendors. The lenders chose an investment banker, Steven Strom, as the new leader of the enterprise after a number of loan defaults.
But the firebrand CEO, Eduardo Albor, is challenging his ouster, launching a preemptive legal attack in Mexican courts and claiming Strom’s appointment is illegitimate. “Mr. Albor and the legitimate board of the Dolphin Group Mexican Entities also have a duty to pursue all legal and equitable remedies,” in Mexico, his attorney wrote in a filing with the U.S. court.
In Delaware, attorneys for the new management team told U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein that Strom was negotiating with Miami-Dade Mayor Daniela Levine Cava to resolve the County’s lawsuit.
“We are looking for a path forward for that valuable property,” said Robert Brady, an attorney for the new management team. Levine Cava’s administration confirmed meetings, but didn’t offer any details. “We are monitoring the bankruptcy litigation process,” said Roy Coley, chief utilities and regulatory services officer in a statement.
Miami-Dade is trying to evict the Seaquarium, but that action – in state court — is on hold.
In the past, Levine Cava has said the County wants to find a new use for the bayside property it owns on the iconic Rickenbacker Causeway. The mayor has previously said she is not interested in simply finding a new park operator. The company has argued it has corrected violations, and that the County is succumbing to political pressure and public sentiment against the facility.
In court papers, Strom said he has lined up $8 million in temporary financing to stabilize the company, which operates under the Dolphin Company trade name. But, he said he needs U.S. court approval to go forward.
The immediate issue in front of the judge: access to corporate records and knowing where recent park receipts from the Easter holiday are being deposited. The new team said Albor was blocking access.
“I don’t know what they’re hiding. I don’t know why it should be this hard, but they have not provided us a single document,” Brady, the lawyer for the new management, said.
In a sworn statement, Albor accused the U.S. management team of forcibly entering a building in Cancún on April 11, bringing with them locksmiths and local law enforcement officers in an attempt to illegally seize records. Still, while challenging Strom’s appointment, Albor’s attorneys wrote “Mr. Albor recognizes the practical need to ensure that the marine animals are fed, the employees are paid” until Mexican courts resolve cases filed there.
Judge Silverstein was cautious about her authority to issue orders given the Mexican proceedings. “What is happening in Mexico?” she asked, noting that several orders from courts in that country “appear to be contradictory.”
The group told the court that one of the U.S. parks — Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City – recently had to close because of animal welfare issues regarding the maintenance of the sea lion pen.
Judge Silverstein told attorneys to work together while the legal issues are clarified.
“I’m hoping there’s a sharing of at least information, so that whoever is, in actuality controlling day to day has what they need to ensure that the animals are being taken care of and the people are being paid for their work and other operational matters are being resolved,” the judge said.
James Moon, an attorney representing Albor, agreed. But he made it clear that Albor wants Mexican, not U.S. courts, to settle matters.
“Mexican courts need to deal with this. And the problem is, if you interfere with that, two things have happened. One, you may issue an order that conflicts with those orders, and now we have a problem of international comity, because what is the Mexican court to do?”
Albor made national headlines two years ago when he said Lolita, the park’s star killer whale, would be moved to Washington state waters. Lolita died in August 2023 before she could be transported, and Mayor Levine Cava lost patience with Albor as concerns for animal welfare at the Seaquarium grew.
Judge Silverstein held off on ruling, allowing both sides to conduct depositions. She set another hearing for later this month.
John Pacenti contributed to this story. This story was originally published in the Key Biscayne Independent, a WLRN News partner.
