18 February, 2012
Dear Julucans,
As you will no doubt be aware, a lot has transpired since the employees meeting we hosted at Blue in October last year. As you know, Adam Aron put the resort into liquidation (bankruptcy) in November 2011, and although we are told that the liquidators have been keeping you up to date on developments, it may be helpful if we clarify what has occurred since.
When the resort needed working capital we were the only ones who were there; in order to keep the hotel open, we injected working capital of US$3,000,000 between November 2011 and January 2012. This working capital was to keep the Hotel open to the end of April when additional financing could be put in place.
We are outraged to hear that the liquidator has now announced that he is planning to close the resort on Friday 24 February 2012.
We entered into negotiations with the unsecured creditors, Brilla, Rowan & Manfredi at the request ofGoAbut, despite the fact that we are the only secured creditor amongst them, they refused to recognize the extent of our debt as mandated by the Eastern Caribbean Appeals Court and the Settlement agreement. We were therefore unable to reach an agreement with them.
As a secured creditor, we have collateral in the form of a duly registered charge whereas the unsecured creditors have no collateral. Dion Friedland, who lost his 12 year legal battle with us, and used operating cash from the hotel to pay his legal bills, has now aligned his interests with these unsecured creditors. As you all know, the hotel’s interior condition deteriorated dramatically under Friendland’s watch.
As a consequence of this scheming, we have decided to pursue our legal rights; we are taking every legal step available to keep the hotel open and to save the reputation of Cap Juluca, including filing an application with the Anguillian court to keep the liquidator from arbitrarily closing the hotel. If we succeed, this will avoid a massive loss of jobs and a potential catastrophe for the economy ofAnguilla. Brilla, on the other hand, has filed an affidavit with the court to prevent further funding of the hotel. Their motives appear to be to force a closing of the resort, for no other purpose than to diminish its value and ruin the good name of Cap Juluca.
We are not responsible for the current state of affairs at Cap Juluca. On the contrary, we are doing everything within our means to get a fair and equitable resolution. The property is in the current the predicament solely due to the actions of Adam Aron and his partners, including Brilla, Rowan and Manfredi all of whom were working together. After defaulting on his legally binding agreement with us, Mr. Aron proceeded to pay huge fees to himself, to his lawyers and to select ex-pat employees and then Mr. Aron put the hotel into liquidation (bankruptcy) to further protect himself and his partners.
At the same time, as part of the scheme which did great damage to the oitel, Mr. Aron’s partner, Marc Rowan, announced the sale of all furniture, fixtures and equipment out from under hotel guests, even thought he had no legal right to do so.
We need your support to protect your jobs and the tourism industry inAnguilla. We have filed an action in the Anguillian court to prevent the Liquidator from closing the resort until a resolution of ownership disputes can be resolved, in accordance with the legal processes afforded by Anguillian law.
Although some of you may not be familiar with what we have done to create Cap Juluca, those of you who have been with us since the beginning know that:
1. Cap Juluca did not magically rise from the sands ofMaundaysBaybeach. It was through our hard work, dedication and effort that all 18 villas, the Main House, Pimms and Chatterton’s (now Spice) were developed and constructed, creating jobs and adding in a major way to the development of tourism in Anguilla.
2. In March of 2010, we won a judgment in our favor from the Eastern Caribbean Appeals Court involving a dispute with Dion Friedland dating back to 1997.
3. Based on this court decision we agreed to a settlement agreement in October, 2010 with Adam Aron, who had purchased the property from Dion Friedland. Under this agreement, Adam Aron promised us that, if he were to default under this agreement, he would give the property back to us.
4. In July 2012, Adam Aron defaulted on the settlement agreement and , rather than living up to his word, he put the property into liquidation to protect his own interests by creating havoc.
5. We are now seeking to reclaim what is rightly ours. Our only goal is to preserve what we along with you, worked so hard to achieve: that Cap Juluca is recognized as the finest destination resort in the Caribbean for the benefit of the employees, guests and overall tourism toAnguilla.
6. As we continue to spend our efforts towards building up the resort, the other parties seem to be working in concert to do just the opposite. Dion Friedland and Adam Aron have consistently given priority to their own interests and personal gain to the detriment of the resort. It appears, once again, they want to do everything possible to devalue Cap Juluca with the intent to acquire the pieces of Cap Juluca at a distressed price.
We must not let this happen and we want to reassure you that we are doing everything possible to preserve Cap Juluca.
Charles Hickox Linda Hickox
