Cisneros family fortune in turmoil as real daughter challenges widow’s evil control

Alongside a long-running civil fight over the estate of the late Venezuelan billionaire Oswaldo Cisneros, one of his daughters has taken her dispute with his widow to the criminal courts.

In July 2021, a Caracas court admitted a complaint brought by Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals against her stepmother, Mireya Blavia de Cisneros, alleging private violence, extortion and association to commit crimes. Claudia alleged that Mireya subjected her to unlawful pressure in connection with the dispute over the multibillion-dollar estate, including threats and coercion intended to compel her to perform or tolerate acts she was not legally required to accept. The complaint also alleged conduct intended to secure a financial advantage or cause her financial loss.

The admission of the complaint did not constitute a finding of guilt, and the material available does not establish its final outcome.

The criminal complaint is one strand of a wider inheritance battle that erupted after Oswaldo Cisneros died in Miami on November 8, 2020. Claudia and her sisters, Maritza Blanca and María Ella Cisneros Fontanals, are Cisneros’s daughters from his first marriage. He had no biological children with Mireya, but the couple adopted six children in Romania and Colombia: Carmen Elena, Camila Roxana, Alfonso Olaf, Oswaldo Antonio, Laura Gissel and Carla Giovana.

The litigation concerns the adopted children’s inheritance rights, Cisneros’s testamentary arrangements and control of an estate linked to telecommunications giant Digitel, oil, real estate and other businesses. Venezuelan government sources say tax authorities valued it at more than $10 billion.

Cisneros’s closed will, registered in Venezuela in December 2017, named Mireya and all nine children as his “sole and universal heirs”. Lawyers for the three daughters have questioned the arrangements, alleging they disadvantaged the daughters by giving the six adopted children greater collective influence over family interests. The dispute has been accompanied by allegations that Mireya sought majority control of family trusts and businesses through the six children’s voting strength.

Claudia, who described herself as a legitimate, compulsory and testamentary heir, also brought the principal civil challenge. On May 12, 2021, she contested the six children’s legal standing, arguing that their Romanian and Colombian adoption judgments had never undergone exequátur, the procedure by which certain foreign judgments are formally recognised in Venezuela, and so could not produce legal effects there.

On August 3, 2021, the Social Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal ruled in her favour, holding that exequátur was required, finding that the six lacked standing in the relevant succession proceedings and ordering related proceedings archived. Mireya sought constitutional review, and on January 31, 2022, the Constitutional Chamber annulled that ruling, finding that qualifying international adoptions governed by the Hague Convention did not need the additional exequátur. The decision defeated the attempt to exclude the six on that ground but did not resolve every issue in the dispute.

The adoptions have since returned to the spotlight. Venezuelan government sources allege they were part of a long-term arrangement that increased the voting strength of the Cisneros-Blavia side and gave Mireya’s branch majority influence over family structures, potentially at the daughters’ expense. One official alleged irregularities and possible fabrication, claiming the adoptions were used in a scheme to secure majority voting control of the family trust. These allegations have not been established by the court rulings.

Government sources further allege that the SENIAT tax authority calculated a potential inheritance-tax liability exceeding $3 billion, with one official claiming there was no record of payment and that authorities were examining inheritance and succession-tax obligations. The figures and payment status have not been independently verified.

They have also alleged wider personal and corporate tax liabilities, underinvestment, bribery, political kickbacks and irregularities involving businesses associated with the family, including Digitel, one of Venezuela’s largest mobile operators, and its oil and real estate interests. Officials have alleged failures to meet investment commitments and possible corruption in dealings during the presidency of Nicolás Maduro, and government sources have described Mireya as a close ally of the former president, raising suspicions that she has continued lobbying on his behalf. Those claims require independent corroboration.

A legal source representing Mireya disputed aspects of the government’s allegations while acknowledging problems with underinvestment and unfulfilled commitments, attributing some of them to US sanctions affecting Venezuela’s financial system. A legal representative for Mireya said she would continue to contest the legal challenges brought by Claudia Susana Cisneros Fontanals.