CRYSTALLEX INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION -Plaintiff-, v. BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA -Defendant.

CRYSTALLEX INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION -Plaintiff-, v. BOLIVARIAN REPUBLIC OF VENEZUELA -Defendant.

A Canadian gold mining company won the right to go after Venezuela's prized U.S.-based oil refineries and collect $1.4 billion it lost in a decade-old take-over by teh defendant.

Chief Judge Leonard P. Stark of the U.S. Federal District Court in Delaware made the ruling in favor of Crystallex The judge's ruling is unique, because government assets, like PDVSA, are normally protected from lawsuits against a sovereign nation. But the judge found that Crystallex can attach Citgo's parent because Venezuela has erased the lines between the government and its oil firm, now run by a military general.