The ink wasn’t even dry yet on the civil lawsuit that Francisco Industries, Inc. filed against ASR Group lawyers for the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit they filed against the sugar industry giant less than a month ago. ASR Group’s owners, called the allegations made in the lawsuit “absolutely false” when it was filed and pointed to public records that clearly debunked the claim made in the suit that ASR Group bought sugar from Communist Cuba.
Those public records appear to be what pushed lawyers for Francisco Industries to back out of the suit.
In a joint statement, Alfonso Fanjul and J. Pepe Fanjul stated that they were pleased to see the allegations made against their company and family were clearly proven to be false.
“Today, lawyers withdrew a lawsuit falsely claiming ASR Group International, Inc., a company affiliated with the Fanjul family, purchased sugar from Cuba. Easily available public records clearly showed the allegations were absolutely false.
We were shocked that our family and ASR Group were falsely accused of violating the Cuban embargo, since the reality is ASR Group’s purchase of its London refinery in 2010 has blocked the Castro regime's access to a European market that they had previously exploited. The attacks on our family and our reputation were extremely personal and hurtful, so we are pleased the facts have been made clear.”
