Assistant appointed by judge who cleared sale of Maksoud is linked to buyers

The trustee who oversaw the sale of the Maksoud Plaza hotel acted on at least two occasions as an attorney for the purchasers of the building and their families.

Oreste Nestor de Souza Laspro was appointed in 2020 judicial administrator in the judicial recovery process of the iconic hotel in São Paulo. In this role, he assists in the conduct of the lawsuit and supervises the fulfillment of the recovery stages, in order to ensure that the company is able to become viable again.

Laspro was contacted by email and phone, but did not respond until the report was published. The hotel closed its doors on the morning of December 7th, after 42 years of operation. The announcement took workers and guests by surprise.

In the role of administrator of Maksoud’s judicial reorganization, he was also called upon to give an opinion on an incident – ​​a type of process parallel to that of judicial reorganization, linked to the main one – that ended with an agreement for the conclusion of the sale of the building.

In this procedure, those interested in the agreement for the conclusion of the sale were Jussara and Fernando Simões, the brothers who bought the hotel building in an auction at the Labor Court in 2011. immobile.

Jussara and Fernando are shareholders of Simpar, which controls JSL (logistics). The two companies have among their shareholders Fernando himself and other members of the Simões family, according to their pages dedicated to investor relations.

Laspro’s ties to the buyers’ family are at least two. In 2015, he acted as attorney for Fernando Simões, JSL and Simpar in an arbitration proceeding concluded in 2017.

Then, until July 2019, he acted as a lawyer for Locar Guindastes e Transportes Intermodais in an arbitration that discussed the responsibility of the company and the construction company Norberto Odebrecht in the accident that left two dead during the construction of Arena Corinthians, in 2013.

The company was founded by Julio Eduardo Simões, brother of Jussara and Fernando Simões, the buyers of the Maksoud building.

In the demonstration on the sale of the property where the hotel operated, Laspro said he saw no reason to oppose the approval of the agreement, “given that, to the best of our knowledge, there is no contractual, legal or judicial impediment to its conclusion.”

This procedure took place in the São Paulo Court in a confidential manner and is criticized by Maksoud’s heirs who, like the creditors, did not participate in the mediation.

Henry Maksoud Neto, partner of HM Hoteis and representative of Hidroservice Engenharia, companies involved in the sale of Maksoud, told leaf in December that the procedure was requested by the judge of the judicial reorganization process, and that it only put an end to a dispute that had not been favorable to the group.

The contestation of the auction in which the Simões brothers bought the building reached the TST (Superior Labor Court), where the Maksoud group was defeated.

The brothers Claudio and Roberto Maksoud, heirs of the hotel’s founder and who are opposed to Henry Maksoud Neto, the current administrator of the group, say that the sale of the building took place “at a low price, and was decided by someone who has a stake of only 0, 01% in the capital of the company that owns the asset”.

The vile price to which the brothers refer amounts to R$ 132 million – according to them, the property would be worth R$ 300 million.

On Tuesday (18), they filed a judicial appeal in which they ask for the definitive suspension and annulment of the sale of the building based on what they consider to be Laspro’s lack of impartiality, who would not have communicated, in the process, that he already had a lawyer for a of buyers.

Lawyers heard by leaf say that the ideal would have been for Laspro to have communicated that his office had already acted in cases of people or groups interested in judicial recovery, so that the judge could assess whether or not there was suspicion.

“In addition to all the other irregularities surrounding the sale of the building, the judicial administrator who recommended the approval of the sale in the judicial recovery has already been a lawyer for the purchaser of the building, their families and their companies, in the recent past”, said the brothers Maksoud, in note.

Also in a written statement, businessmen Fernando Simões and Jussara Simões claim that the property where Maksoud Plaza operated was sold on November 24, 2011 and did not involve the activities carried out there.

“The judicial administrator was appointed by the judge responsible for the judicial reorganization, in September 2020, and there was no question about his impediment”, they said. They did not comment on the suspicion raised by the brothers who oppose the sale of Maksoud.

Locar said it had nothing to do with the purchased building. JSL claimed to have no relationship with the property under dispute. “Together with other lawyers, Dr. Oreste Laspro acted in a lawsuit filed by the company, which was closed about five years ago (2017).”

The brothers Claudio and Roberto managed, on December 17, to postpone the delivery of the building to Simões until the end of January, through an interlocutory appeal.

The provisional decision suspended the purchasers’ possession and determined that the building be sealed, to prevent the removal of furniture and other goods.

As administrator of the judicial reorganization, Laspro went to the hotel the day after the decision of the judge Araldo Telles, where he verified the removal of goods from the place. In a demonstration sent to the 2nd Reserved Chamber of Business Law, he said that “in order to protect compliance with the decision”, he called the Military Police and registered a report.

On Monday (17), Judge João de Oliveira Rodrigues Filho, of the 1st Court of Bankruptcy and Judicial Reorganizations of São Paulo, reconsidered the decision to end the judicial reorganization and determined the period of supervision for two years.

Henry Maksoud Neto said, in a statement, that the decision is “absolutely normal and appropriate”. The group’s chief executive stated that the plan presented in the lawsuit already provided that the recovery would only end after full settlement of payments from labor creditors.

“The new decision does not interfere in any way with the plans of the Maskoud group, to continue acting in the provision of services and licensing of its brands, its business origin, focused on Hospitality and Real Estate Developments with its brand and know-how.”