Wednesday, December 29, 2010

End of the Common Law

The End of the Common Law or should I say, the beginning of the end

We experienced in the Federal Court in Miami Florida perhaps the beginning of what I call the end of the Common Law. According to the records the common law was branched out of the Roman Law still used in many countries.
The common law it is a brilliant and updated system that worked until the case of Urcuyo vs. Citibank N.A.
Read about the case findings of fact and read about the jury's instructions and jury's answer, read about the jury's final decision about the case, read about the final verdict.
A judge, a single person overruled the unanimous decision of a panel in a jury. A judge, a single person came up with the idea that a group of people will lose time from their families, time from their work, and at the end their voices was not heard.
When our voices are no longer heard, and we begin to make excuses for shadowing peoples voices then the fall begins. Is as if Citibank is mirroring the Romans mistake, they got so big that they believe they were invinsible.
Nothing can stop humanity when they follow the right path. It may take a while for people to realize certain things but then when they do, there is no turning back.
Can it be reversed? perhaps but voices must be heard.
Will begin to collect signatures to be heard in Congress about the Urcuyo vs. Citibank case.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Betrayed By Citibank

Urcuyo vs. Citibank is it possibly the worst case of bank abuse of powers against any citizen. Citibank has managed to drag a case against them for over 30 years. The case failed to do justice in the United States in what appears to be a "faulty system protecting a bank".

Urcuyo vs. Citibank has taken center stage in another country , Nicaragua, and the confusion is setting in the case since day one.
The bank has a way or has managed to confuse and delay the court process in Nicaragua.

Citibank blamed the current Nicaraguan government of stealing the same money they are being sued for in a Federal Court in the US, and still manages to bribe individuals in the court system in Nicaragua allowing the bank to drag the case for a longer period of time.

Will this abuse by the bank stop?
Can you help us in the case of Urcuyo vs. Citibank?

The answer to both questions is yes, and the fact is that if the bank is stopped NOW we all prevent the bank or any other bank to get away with robbery.

We are collecting signatures to bring this case to the Congress for a complete review of the case and prevent such crimes to go unpunished in the future.

Thank you

Luis Urcuyo

Saturday, December 18, 2010

One Man's Faith

Dignity

Dignity is a term used in moral, ethical, and political discussions to signify that a being has an innate right to respect and ethical treatment. It is an extension of enlightenment-era beliefs that individuals have God-given, inviolable rights, and thus is closely related to concepts like virtue, respect, self-respect, autonomy, human rights, and enlightened reason. Dignity is generally proscriptive and cautionary: in politics it is usually synonymous to 'human dignity', and is used to critique the treatment of oppressed and vulnerable groups and peoples, though in some case has been extended to apply to cultures and sub-cultures, religious beliefs and ideals, animals used for food or research, and even plants. In more colloquial settings it is used to suggest that someone is not receiving a proper degree of respect, or even that they are failing to treat themselves with proper self-respect.







Read how one of the largest institutions in the world has managed to drag a case for over 30 years. Seems absurd but that is exactly what they have chosen to do in the case in the Urcuyo vs. Citibank despite the overwhelming evidence against the bank. They have taken the case to new levels. Against human rights level.

How it all began


It all began when we were forced to go into exile to Guatemala in 1979.
I left Nicaragua with my parents and paternal grandparents due to the civil unrest, which existed during that time. I was 9 years old during that time.
My grandfather, Dr. Francisco Urcuyo MaliaƱo was the former Vice President of Nicaragua, Anastasio Somoza Debayle being the President of Nicaragua.
Later my grandfather became President of Nicaragua for a couple of days prior to the arrival of the Sandinista Government (Communist Gov't. at that time).

When the Sandinista Regime overthrew Somoza's regime out of power, all people related to Somoza went out into exile to other countries in the region and around the world. My family and I left to Guatemala and received great attention from Mr. Romeo Lucas, President of Guatemala at that time. My grandfather had met Lucas on several occasions when my grandfather served as Ambassador of Nicaragua in Guatemala years prior to 1979.
We made a last minute escape from Nicaragua narrowly escaping death. Sandinista forces open fire against the plane we were traveling and the off seemed like a scene from a movie.
We later learned that bullets had struck the plane we were in but fortunately never realized that until we reached Guatemalan soil. We had made it alive.


We arrived in Guatemala on July 19th 1979

We began to unpack our belongings, almost non existant due to the nature of our departure from Nicaragua. We were forced to leave behind clothing, important documents, and other belongings.
Days after the arrival into what would become our political exile life, my grandfather began to approach a couple of banks he maintained accounts with, including Citibank, with the intention to begin to utilize some money for his survival and ours.

My grandfather began by calling Citibank and asking for his funds to be transferred to his new address in another country. It was to his surprise when Citibank informed us that they turned over our money to the new Sandinista Government of Nicaragua.
That was probably the first time I came across the word, confiscated. After pleading to Citibank for his money, my grandfather received letters from Citibank regretting to inform him that the bank had turned over the money to the Sandinista government.
In order to view the actual letter received by Citibank Officials from my grandfather's claim regarding his money Click Here.

My grandfather disagreed but trusted the word of that Citibank high banking official, Mr. Eddie Rene Pinilla (Manager of the Caribbean and Central America). On that letter he clearly states that the money was turned over to the new government.

Jaw dropping as it sounds. My grandfather relied on the truthfulness and reputation of such a powerful financial institution for many years to come.

We were finally allowed back into Nicaragua

10 years later , due to a change of government in Nicaragua to a more democratic one allowed us to return to the country and initiate an investigation regarding the whereabouts of my family’s money. Did the Nicaraguan government take the money we deposited in Citibank or did Citibank fabricate a story and kept the money?

Fact or Fiction

My grandparents searched everywhere in Nicaragua including the banking regulatory agencies, the Minister of Finance's Office (Letter Attached), even the Banco Central de Nicaragua and all of them concluded that they had confiscated several things from my grandparents but never was any money turned over from Citibank. The banks stories turned out to be fiction.

Citibank blamed The Sandinistas, claiming that the Sandinistas had confiscated all money and properties belonging to Dr. Francisco Urcuyo and immediate family including the Citibank account mentioned above.
By now the bank has demonstrated that they are not the trusted bank we all have learned to trust but instead a bank capable to steal your lifesavings and lie about it.
Someone would think that if you turn over around $75,000 you would keep records of such transaction but that was not the case as later revealed in a federal court case held in Miami back in 1997.


My grandfather was outraged for being betrayed in such a manner and also learning that the banking giant had stolen his money more than a decade ago.

After learning the truth, I was outraged and decided to bring justice back to my grandparents and our family. All the difficult moments and memories from the hard life of exile I experienced and lived with my grandparents has led me to relentlessly pursue for justice. It became my mission by helping my grandparents recuperate their money stolen from the banking giant and their corrupted officials.

The fight began in a Federal Court in Miami

We began the fight against Citibank in 1997 and since then I have been fighting for what rightfully belongs to my family's. Knowing the facts, the money was taken from my grandparents and never returned gave me a huge sense of injustice and the quest for justice began.
Helping my grandparents recuperate their money meant several things to me,
A.Bring justice for my grandparents
B.Help them spend their last years together with less worries about their finances
C.Re pay them for all they did for me, raising me since I was 15 years old
D.Closing of this case would also bring closing to the past and the desperate economic times we all lived during the exile

We immediately then decided to sue the banking giant and I was in charge of looking for attorneys to take on the case and take on a contingency basis. We hired several attorneys and for the next 7 years I spent communicating between the bank, the attorneys,and my grandparents but it seemed to go nowhere. In 1997 I visited the law firm of Liebler Gonzales and Portuondo in Downtown Miami. They deciced to take on the case an sue the banking giant in Federal Court in Miami.


The case began in a Federal Court in Miami

Knowing the facts, the money was taken from my grandparents and never returned gave me a huge sense of injustice and the quest for justice began. Helping my grandparents recuperate their money meant several things to me, including bring justice to my grandparents
Help them spend their last years together with less worries about their finances, re pay them for all they did for me, raising me since I was 15 years old.
Closing of this case would also bring closing to the past and the desperate economic times we all lived during the exile.

We immediately then decided to sue the banking giant and I was in charge of looking for attorneys to take on the case and take on a contingency basis. We hired several attorneys and for the next years I spent communicating between the bank, the attorneys,and my grandparents but it seemed to go nowhere. In 1997 I visited the law firm of Liebler Gonzales and Portuondo in Downtown Miami. They deciced to take on the case an sue the banking giant in Federal Court in Miami.


Liebler Gonzales & Portunondo got to work

We manage to bring to the courts mountain of evidence which concluded that Citibank stole the money and never gave it back to my grandparents. It also concluded that the letter written by a Citibank official was so convincing that it managed to convince my grandparents that indeed their money was confiscated by the Sandinistas.

What happens next is the biggest charade of justice as it was not present in our case. Perhaps the long arm of the law did not reach as far as the long arm of corruption from the banking giant.


Jury came back in our favor unanimously and against Citibank for their wrongdoings

The jury came back unanimously in favor of my grandparent and the evidence were overwhelming against Citibank and even the judge agreed in the court findings that Citibank was guilty of all counts. But we received news later that the judge had reversed the jury's decision because the jury did not understand banking laws.

Please read the findings of fact and the conclusion of the case and see for yourself how damaging evidence is against Citibank and at the end disappears and turns into thin air. You can view the jury's instructions in the case given by the judge.
http://www.luisurcuyo.blogspot.com/

Many things came to our heads including;

How can the judge change the jury's unanimous verdict
How Citibank, with no evidence supporting their case, managed to persuade the judge in their favor
How the overwhelming evidence which mounted high against Citibank was not enough for the judge rule in our favor
Is Citibank going to get away with robbery once again?

The Law firm Liebler, Gonzales, and Portuondo were not as enthusiastic as they were at the beginning of the case but then again I could sense a different atmosphere half way down the trial. I helped the attorneys in providing key pieces of information which lead to the Jury's Fianl Decision which at the end made no difference.

Our attorneys started with 3 enthusiastic attorneys and we finish with 1 attorney who did not want to take the case to the Supreme Court. He basically said that the buck stops here basically. Having hired them on a contingency basis, I had little leverage for convincing them to take the case to the Supreme Court.

I searched for other law firms to take on the case and most attorneys I encountered said that the could not even consider fighting against the banking Goliath.



Went to Congress for help

I went to the US Congress for help with this injustice and was bounced around from Congressman Doug Bereuter, to Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to Chairperson but all show very little or no willingness to help us with our case. I have letters and records from Congress and the Chairman from the banking Committee at that time, Congressman Doug Bereuter. All seemed to be in vain and no real interest was shown from anybody to even review the injustices from Citibank and the Courts erroneous decisions.

Weeks turned into Months and months into years, and despite the tremendous disappointment from the US Courts, my grandfather and I maintained communication as usual every week regarding the current events from the case as well as the tactics we may be planning in our quest for bringing the bank to justice.

Justice seemed to fade and everything I had learned about justice in this country seemed like a farse.

Citibank wanted to come back to Nicaragua after more than 30 years out of the country.

By now, my grandparents passed away but not since receiving the last disappointment. My grandfather learned that Citibank wanted to take over the Social Security Administration or Pensions in Nicaragua. After i learned this I immediately began to approach the Nicaraguan newspapers and expose the bank to the media.

I wrote an article in the Nicaraguan Newspaper once I found out that Citibank wanted to handle the Social Security Money of Nicaraguan Citizens. I was outraged that this bank knew the facts about the case, robbed my grandfather, (a high ranking Nicaraguan official) and then decides to enter the country once again without paying their dues.


Article in the Nuevo Diario (Nicaraguan Newspaper)

I wrote an article advicing Nicaraguan citizens to beware of the pirates coming to town.
The article is located here
http://archivo.elnuevodiario.com.ni/2001/abril/28-abril-2001/nacional/nacional4.html

Weeks and months passed again and since my grandfather had passed I continued handling the case by myself for a while and for a brief period of time.

My father, also named Francisco Urcuyo was left as the person in charge of all my grandparents affairs. My father and I decided to continue our quest for justice against the banking giant once they stepped into Nicaraguan soil.

Citibank back in Nicaragua

Which is precisely what happen a few years later when Citibank bought Banco Uno. Banco Uno served as the bridge for Citibank to come in to Nicaragua once again and perhaps begin to plan another heist. We said, no way, and realized that it was the perfect opportunity to sue the bank coming back to Nicaraguan soil after almost 30 years.

The bank cannot possibly produce any documents that were not presented during the case in Miami's Federal Court. Moreover suing them in Nicaragua will be twice as interesting as we will be able to know who took the money. Also the Sandinistas will get to confront Citibank about the bank blaming the Sandinistas for taking the money without a single shred of evidence which proves the money ever being turned over to the Sandinistas.

Citibank is being Sued in Nicaragua

We are now suing Citibank in a Nicaraguan court for the amount of $19.6 million dollars. This is by using a simple interest chart table provided by the Banco de Nicaragua. The Nicaraguan government would like to see the truth come to light when it comes to the banking giant making false accusations about the whereabouts of the money. Blaming the Sandinistas was the easiest thing to do but they must be brought to justice.

Link Below shows you pictures of evidence used against Citibank in the case Urcuyo vs. Citibank
http://www.flickr.com/photos/10231311@N07/show/with/3202569788/

There are mountain of evidence and correspondence about this case and the truth will come out.

Justice will prevail, justice must prevail.

Luis Urcuyo
luisurcuyo@hotmail.com