Even the most creative writer of Mexican telenovelas (soaps) would be hard pressed to come up with a story line similar to the real-life drama engulfing the lives of colorful Guadalajara businessman Jorge Vergara and his estranged wife Angelica Fuentes.
Over the past few months, the couple have filed around 50 separate suits in various civil, family, commercial and criminal courts as they battle for control of the local Chivas soccer franchise and the multi-level Omnilife nutrition and dietary supplements company – as well as custody of their two children.
Judgments from these courts come thick and fast. Two weeks ago, a district judge in Ciudad Guzman issued an arrest warrant for Fuentes for allegedly siphoning 79 million dollars from Grupo Omnilife-Chivas. From her temporary base in El Paso, Texas, she has challenged the decision and is seeking an amparo (protection from arrest) through another court.
Meanwhile on Thursday, a civil tribunal ruled that Fuentes was entitled to regain control of Omnilife-Chivas, in which she holds 50 percent of the shareholding. Vergara’s team of lawyers say she has forfeited any claim to continue administering the company after allegedly falsifying documents – and his signature – to move around four billion pesos from company accounts to others in the United States and Switzerland. Vergara took to the airwaves this week to call the decisioon of this court (in Tlajomulco) “ridiculous” and “illegal.”
After starting his working life as a pork rinds salesperson, the flamboyant entrepreneur started Omnilife from scratch in 1991, turning it into an international company with a presence in 19 countries, 3,500 employees and five million “self employed” distributors.
Vergara and Fuentes married in 2008 in a lavish, five-day ceremony in India that was given extensive coverage in Mexico’s celebrity gossip magazines. The couple openly encouraged media coverage of their liaison, presumably believing that publicizing their seemingly happily relationship had a positive spin-off effect on their business enterprises.
In 2013, in addition to promoting her from director to president of Grupo Omnilife-Chivas, Vergara gifted Fuentes half of the company’s shareholding. He announced his separation from Fuentes at the beginning of April and has spoken frequently in the media about the conflict, whereas his wife has largely remained silent, leaving public pronouncements to her lawyers.
Even though legally she may be entitled to resume the reins of Grupo Omnilife-Chivas, Fuentes is not likely to return to Guadalajara until she is granted an amparo to protect her from arrest. In another bizarre twist, the Jalisco Judicial Council has suspended the Ciudad Guzman judge who ordered her arrest, as well as the district attorney who filed the criminal accusation against her. The arbitration committee cited “serious anomalies” in the judge’s ruling but will not rescind it until a full investigation has concluded.
Jose Armando Solis de Anda, one of Fuentes’ lawyers, has accused Vergara’s defense team of corruption and questioned why a judge 120 miles from Guadalajara heard the criminal case. Vergara has insisted that ruling was legal and not a single peso changed hands with the judge.
Vergara has told media in Guadalajara that he is willing to reach an out-of-court settlement with Fuentes but his wife’s demands are totally unrealistic.
“In my heart, I don’t want to see her go to prison,” Vergara said.
Fuentes’ lawyers say Vergara must stop using the media to attack his wife and withdraw all his legal suits.
Most commentators believe Vergara will eventually settle the case out of court but, as a steely businessman, is determined to give up as little of his fortune as possible.