Ferguson tries again to avoid revealing assets to state

BUSINESSMAN Steve Ferguson is again seeking to stop the state from demanding information from him and now his attorneys as it seeks to enforce a US$131 million judgment against him in Miami.

Ferguson filed the emergency application for an injunction on September 27.

It was previously assigned to Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell. She was made a judge of the Court of Appeal on the same day the application was filed, so it was reassigned to Justice Frank Seepersad.

At a hearing on October 7, Douglas Mendes, SC, asked for an adjournment. He leads a team for the state.

Mendes said when the proceedings were filed, they were served on the Solicitor General’s department of the Office of the Attorney General, but because of the AG’s conflict of interest, it was reassigned to former AG Faris Al-Rawi and would have had to be passed on to him. AG Reginald Armour was involved in the Miami matter as an attorney for another defendant, former finance minister Brian Kuei Tung, and was disqualified by the Miami court.

Mendes also said the application was similar to another filed by Ferguson, so they did not appreciate they were separate proceedings.

However, he said the new application was also “doomed to fail,” and seeks to interfere in proceedings in a foreign court.

Ferguson has complained that the state is pursuing “aggressive measures” to enforce the 2023 Miami judgment against him and two others, including making demands for the production of documents, information and the taking of depositions.

In May, he filed a similar application which Justice Nadia Kangaloo dismissed in a constitutional complaint. She is still presiding over that matter, but Ferguson has asked for her to recuse herself. She is expected to give a ruling and make a statement in that application at the end of October.

However, Ferguson intends to have the two complaints joined.

Mendes said in the other matter, Ferguson had already tried to stop the enforcement proceedings in Miami, and the state gave an undertaking not to execute judgment pending the hearing of that constitutional claim.

He said that undertaking did not prevent the state from taking available steps in preparation for execution and discovery.

“In other words, all of the other steps that one can take under Miami law would be taken, but there would not be execution.

“So in these proceedings, it occurs to me that we have to make the point immediately that this is an abuse of the process of the court.

“Certainly, this issue has already been determined by Justice Kangaloo and there is no appeal.

“But first of all, we want to put before you the necessary evidence.”

Seepersad has adjourned the matter to October 14.

In the latest complaint, Ferguson said the State is demanding information from his attorneys about legal fees to two King’s Counsel, his senior counsel in Trinidad and Tobago and other attorneys. He has until October 24 to do so.

He says if he declines to submit to a deposition, he is liable to be held in contempt of court and have his appeal of the 2023 judgment rejected.

Ferguson’s application said on August 26, 2024, the state issued writs of garnishment (a process by which the court orders the seizure or attachment of the property of a defendant or judgment debtor in the possession or control of a third party) on various attorneys and law firms seeking to recover any funds held for him by them.

A series of subpoenas for video depositions were also issued to the lawyers and law firms who were told to produce various documents including those related to payments between the attorneys and Ferguson; payments between attorneys and anyone acting on his behalf; and payments in connection with attorneys who have represented him in the Miami matter, including his TT attorneys.

The application said the Florida-based attorneys have provided limited responses and are in the process of seeking a compromise. However, it noted that if no agreement could be reached, they would seek a protective order to shield them from providing more information or sitting for depositions. An attorney in Miami who represented Ferguson more than a decade has sought such an order.

If they are denied, they would need to comply to avoid being sanctioned or found in contempt.

Ferguson was given until September 30 to respond to the requests. He sought a three-week extension to respond.

“I have not complied with these requests and at the time of writing the RTT (Republic of TT) has taken no further steps to enforce them. However, if they are not prevented from doing so, the RTT’s attorneys may seek a court order to compel me to comply with the RTT’s demands,” he said in an affidavit in support of his application.

Ferguson said he had been advised that should the state proceed, it would violate his right to due process of law and protection of the law and his right to a fair hearing.

The state has also sought to depose Ferguson’s children.

In March, Ferguson failed to get the Miami court to block the disclosure of his assets as the state seeks to enforce a multi-million dollar US Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organisations (RICO)-case judgment to recover US$131 million arising out of the Piarco International Airport expansion project decades ago.

Ferguson has refused to provide his financial information in the US proceedings. He has objected to almost every question or request by asserting his right to avoid self-incrimination under the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.

He also complained that requiring him to disclose his assets would infringe his right not to incriminate himself in criminal proceedings against him in the US and TT.

In his other High Court claim, Ferguson contends that the institution of the Miami civil case against him violated his rights to due process and protection of the law. His lawsuit also complained of the evidence admitted in the case in Miami and contended it was another attempt by the State to harass him and his family. It also said the decision to institute the foreign proceedings was unfair given the various prosecutions in the TT courts.

On May 15, 2023, Miami district court judge Reemberto Diaz entered final judgment for TT in the racketeering case against Ferguson, former UNC minister Brian Kuei Tung and US businessman Raul Guitierrez Jr for US$131,318,840.47.

The final judgment followed a jury’s verdict in March 2023, which led to TT getting triple the damages it sought under RICO law.

The Miami jury found Ferguson liable for multiple claims arising from the fraud linked to the redevelopment of the Piarco International Airport in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Kuei Tung, a former minister of finance under the Basdeo Panday administration, and Gutierrez, the former principal of Calmaquip Engineering Corporation – which provided specialised equipment at the airport – were previously held liable in the racketeering case.

Ferguson has appealed the Florida court’s judgment and on May 6, the Third District Court of Appeal lifted an earlier stay it granted clearing the way for the case to continue before Diaz.

Ferguson is represented by Edward Fitzgerald, KC, Joseph Middleton, KC, Fyard Hosein, SC, Adaam Hosein and Annette Mamcham.

Also representing the state are Simon de la Bastide, SC, and Clay Hackett.