Fearing for the safety of animals and finding the former Dolphin Company CEO Eduardo Albor is defying her orders, a U.S. bankruptcy judge imposed sanctions of $10,000 a day on him Thursday, and said she may consider additional sanctions and damages. The fines are retroactive to June 19.
Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein found Albor had continued to file legal actions in Mexican courts to challenge the control of a Dolphin Company entity, known as Controladora Dolphin, even though he had been ordered to stop on June 5.
The ruling from the Delaware federal court comes at the urging of the new management team, creditors, and lenders who all pleaded with the judge Wednesday that swift action was needed to stop Albor from diverting revenue from Mexican tourist attractions. In a filing earlier this week, the chief restructuring officer, Robert Wagstaff, said he had uncovered a “scheme” to divert revenue into accounts not under court supervision using credit card readers purchased from a Costco in Cancun.
Albor had not responded to an email sent before press time.
Because of the continuing fight over control in Mexico, a group of lenders said this week they were forced to inject an additional $10 million into the transitional company so that the network of 30 parks can be split up and sold in an orderly process, expected to start in a few weeks. The fate of the Miami Seaquarium on Virginia Key – which also would be on the auction block — is further complicated by a pending eviction action filed by Miami-Dade County.
READ MORE: A bankruptcy battle is clouding the future of Miami’s Seaquarium. It’s not clear who’s in charge
“The parks outside of Mexico are the ones we can control, the debtors can control, and those are the parks that I would describe as cash flow neutral,” said Miami attorney Paul Keenan, explaining a cash crisis from the perspective of new lenders trying to keep the company running through bankruptcy.
He said about a dozen Mexican parks generate a majority of the company’s revenue and are still not under the control of the new managers. “Mr. Albor’s strategy here is to try and wear the lenders down,” Keenan said, adding that without the judge’s intervention, a default is possible — a development that could create even more chaos.
“I have grave concerns about Mr. Albor’s behaviour,” Judge Silverstein said, adding she is very concerned about animal welfare. In her ruling, she stopped short of finding that Albor had diverted funds, focusing on his continued legal challenges that she said were “undisputed.”
James Moon, a lawyer representing Albor, told the court his client was trying to keep the operation running. “He does care about these companies,” Moon told the judge. “He does care about the animals.”
But Judge Silverstein shot back: “he needs to step back.”
In her order, the judge said the daily fines will end when Albor files a certification that the new Mexican legal challenge, called an “amparo,” is dismissed.
This story was originally published in the Key Biscayne Independent, a WLRN News partner.
