Weather Report #1: Fossil Fuel Companies Have to Face Climate RICO Claims; New Allegations in New Fortress Energy Securities Litigation; Elvis Crespo Sues Ex-Wife, Music Label for Control Over Recordings
Magistrate judge says fossil fuel companies will have to face part of Puerto Rico municipalities' climate RICO lawsuit. New Fortress Energy's FLNG1 was allegedly "constructed in a manner that risked catastrophic safety disaster."
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Welcome to the first-ever Weather Report, a compilation of scooplets and updates that are too small for their own standalone article, alongside recommendations for news and media that I think you should consume. I originally had an essay scheduled for this week that was about Puerto Rico's role in U.S. military power projection in the Caribbean as well as how it served as a testing ground for some of the imperial, far-right, and disaster capitalist policies that the current administration is attempting to push on foreign states. However, I have had to delay it because I just keep adding more details the more research I do.
If you liked these recommendations, hit the subscribe button and tell your friends to subscribe as well because posts like these might be paywalled eventually whenever I think I can produced them on a consistent basis.
Here's what I have for you this week:
- An update on the first-ever climate RICO case presented by Puerto Rico's municipalities against fossil fuel companies.
- Allegations of "chaos" during the construction of New Fortress Energy's Altamira Project, according to an amended complaint in a class-action lawsuit
- Elvis Crespo, singer of Suavemente and Tu Sonrisa, sued his wife and music label because she claims to be the sole owner based off an allegedly "fraudulent" contract, according to a federal complaint.
- Lawsuit against CBP by an allegedly labeled a "potential active shooter" is dismissed in federal court.
US Magistrate Judge Says Fossil Fuel Companies Should Face Part of the Claims in First-Ever Climate RICO Lawsuit Presented by Puerto Rican Municipalities
On Feb. 20, 2025, a magistrate judge issued a report and recommendation saying that Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and six other fossil fuel companies should face part of the claims presented against them by 37 Puerto Rican municipalities in the first-ever climate Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) case. The lawsuit alleges the companies "colluded" to deceive the public about the effects of fossil fuels while suppressing the move towards clean energy, which ended up supercharging the 2017 hurricane season.
Magistrate Judge Héctor Ramos Vega said the racketeering and antitrust claims presented by the municipalities could continue. However, he recommended dismissing nine counts, including conspiracy to commit common law consumer fraud and deceptive business practices, among other state claims. Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, the law firm representing the municipalities, said they were “disappointed in that aspect of the finding and will respond accordingly” in a post to their website.
While the filing is only a recommendation and a federal district court judge still needs to decide whether they’ll accept part or all of Ramos Vega’s recommendation, this is a genuinely huge step when it comes to climate litigation in Puerto Rico and the rest of the world. It could also mean that a similar RICO lawsuit presented by the Municipality of San Juan in federal court could move forward with relative ease. The Government of Puerto Rico is also suing Big Oil, but that case states that the companies violated state environmental and public nuisance laws.
“Sadly, the people of Puerto Rico are the canaries in the coal mine, bearing the brunt of a crisis engineered by corporate greed and deception,” said Marc Grossman, senior partner at Milberg, in the firm's post “By sustaining our racketeering and antitrust claims, this case will be ground zero for holding the participants in this racketeering enterprise accountable. It is time for those who built this empire of deception to answer for their actions in a court of law.”
As the Milberg press release notes, the case will soon enter “full-scale discovery,” which will “pull back the curtain on the fossil fuel industry’s decades-long campaign of deceit.” A lot has already been done to fully understand what companies knew about climate change and when they knew it, but this could lead to a treasure trove of information. The original lawsuit includes references to the “Victory” memo, a 1998 document from the American Petroleum Institute – also one of the defendants in this case – that outlined how fossil fuel companies can confuse the public discourse on climate change through tactics such as hiring independent scientists to question the findings of climate change studies and providing a “steady stream” of op-ed columns to muddy the waters.
Small Islands Developing States, like Puerto Rico, are on the “frontlines of climate change” because of their lack of resources, dependence on imports, geography and limited access to climate finance. In 2017, Hurricanes Irma and Maria — which are specifically cited in the complaint — caused over $90 billion in damages and over 4,000 deaths. The archipelago has still not recovered.
A lawyer for Chevron told Reuters in a statement that the lawsuit is “virtually identical to others which have been dismissed by numerous federal and state courts across the country.”
Chevron’s lawyer is not wrong there. Many of these lawsuits are similar to one another, but that’s because the fossil fuel industry's effect on climate change has had similar effects around the world. However, whether courts take up climate lawsuits is really hit or miss. Last month, the Supreme Court denied a petition to review a 2023 decision by Hawaii's top court, which allows for a climate tort case brought by Honolulu to go toward trial. Meanwhile, a New York state judge dismissed a lawsuit seeking to hold fossil fuel companies liable for their products' impact on climate change.
I was one of — if not the first — to report about the magistrate judge's decision over on Twitter and BlueSky. I should have made a post on Heavy Weather right then and there to break the news, but you live and you learn. Future updates will be posted here as well as on socials.
Objections to the report and recommendation are due by March 6, 2025. The report and recommendation can be found below:
New Allegations in Amended Complaint for New Fortress Energy Securities Litigation
In September 2024, New Fortress Energy (NFE) shareholders filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, founder and CEO Wes Edens, President Andrew Dete, and CFO Christopher Guinta alleging that they failed to disclose the delays and issues plaguing the construction of its "Fast LNG" (FLNG) project in Altamira, Mexico.
On Feb. 19, 2025, an amended complaint was filed that contains serious allegations about the "rushed and chaotic" construction of the Altamira FLNG project. The federal complaint alleges that, according to NFE's frontline workers, the project was "constructed in a manner that risked a catastrophic safety disaster." The complaint also alleges that Wes Edens "effectively turbo-boosted the hype around the project" in order to "enrich himself" through a $3/share dividend that was promised to pay out twice a year but "was never paid again."
The shareholders allege all this happened while they were being misled about the Altamira FLNG project's estimated completion date, which "dramatically" tanked the value of their shares.
FLNG1, the first Fast LNG installation in NFE's Altamira location, “is the only LNG liquefier in the Gulf Coast that is permitted to export LNG to Puerto Rico” because of a special ruling issued by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that allows NFE to transport LNG from Mexico to domestic markets in non-U.S. qualified vessels without violating the Jones Act. Puerto Rico is a “key downstream market” for the NFE and it recently signed a 20-year gas contract with the archipelago's government.
Emailed requests for comment to NFE and their attorneys listed on the docket seeking a reaction to the allegations in the amended complaint and asking what, if any, effects the lawsuit will have on Puerto Rico’s energy system went unanswered. NFE controls a significant amount of generation in the archipelago through its subsidiary, Genera PR.
In November 2024, New Fortress Energy announced they were looking for "strategic partners" for its primary businesses, including projects in Puerto Rico. They were looking into possible asset sales, commercial ventures or strategic partner financing to increase its "liquidity and financial flexibility."
You can find the amended complaint:
Elvis Crespo Sues Ex-Wife, Music Label for Control Over Catalog; Claims Shady Contract
I found this so long ago that I don’t even know if it’s a scoop anymore.
In January, renowned merengue musician Elvis Crespo sued his ex-wife Maribel Vega Laguna and the music label she represented Flash Music, Inc. over sole ownership rights to a "large portion of his catalog," according to a federal complaint filed in the District of Puerto Rico.
The complaint alleges that once Crespo and Vega Laguna got divorced, he requested she return control of his assets but “she refused, claiming to be the sole owner of a large portion of Mr. Crespo’s works” because of an addendum to an agreement he signed. However, the addendum to the agreement allegedly "appears to be a recent creation — a September 17, 2024 exhibit to a 2015 agreement” (emphasis in original) because of the document's metadata, according to the complaint. Crespo maintains the addendum is "fraudulent."
Crespo claims the contract only contemplated his 2015 album Tatuaje, not multiple albums and sound recordings. Because they signed a prenup, Crespo alleges that no division of property was performed when he divorced Vega Laguna.
The one Elvis Crespo that will send every Latinx mom to the dance floor.
Crespo is seeking a declaratory judgement to declare himself sole owner of certain parts of his catalog. He is also seeking to regain control over personal belongings (sound equipment, computer, etc…) that remain in the Florida home he used to share with Vega Laguna, alleges the complaint.
The complaint mentions an Exhibit #1 and #2 that contain the contract, a translation, and the list of songs that he wants control over, but the exhibits are not part of the docket in PACER and are not included in the pdf of the federal complaint. You can find the complaint below:
