The feud between the Greek Vafias and Turkish Karamehmet shipowning families has escalated, with accusations of perjury and fraud against the principal and executives of Advantage Tankers.
Vafias-linked shipowner Psara Energy claims it has new evidence that proves the Advantage Tankers' fleet is actually still controlled by Geden Holdings, something Advantage has always denied.
Advantage, created in 2015 to buy 11 aframax and suezmax tankers and seven product tankers from collapsed Geden Holdings, is 85% owned by Gulsun Nazli Karamehmet-Williams, daughter of Geden owner Mehmet Emin Karamehmet, Psara Energyalleges.
Advantage minority shareholder and chief executive Tugrul Tokgoz also headed Geden Holdings when its ships traded under the name Geden Lines.
The perjury allegations by Psara Energy's lawyers — Despoina Bacha in Piraeus and George Gaitas of law firm Gaitas, Kennedy & Chalos in Houston — are directed at both Karamehmet-Williams and Tokgoz, as well as Advantage chief financial officer Mehmet Mat. Mat is also chief financial officer of Geden Holdings.
Tokgoz told TradeWinds that he cannot say much about the dispute because of the ongoing litigation.
"The matters you refer to have in fact been raised in previous cases and dismissed," Tokgoz said. "Nevertheless, we do absolutely deny that Mrs Williams, Tokgoz or Mat have made any untrue statements to the US courts, and these very serious and irresponsible allegations are baseless and being vigorously defended.
We do absolutely deny that Mrs Williams, Tokgoz or Mat have made any untrue statements to the US courts, and these very serious and irresponsible allegations are baseless and being vigorously defended.
"Advantage Tankers lawfully and properly acquired vessels from their previous owners several years ago and the ownership of Advantage Tankers is entirely separate from the Geden Group.
"In spite of the noise and false accusations of the Stealth parties, there is really nothing more to say."
Neither Harry Vafias-backed Stealth Maritime Corp nor his stock-listed StealthGas figure formally in the current litigation, although some Vafias group officials involved have roles or titles in more than one group entity, including Stealth Maritime and Brave Maritime.
The perjury and fraud charges are aired in an ongoing Eastern District of Texas ship-attachment lawsuit, in the aftermath of a three-year detention in Venezuela that left the 104,500-dwt aframax CV Stealth (built 2005) beyond repair.
The attachment case was aimed at the 115,800-dwt Advantage Arrow (ex-Target, built 2009), which was released from arrest in May after providing security, although the litigation continues.
It is not the first time Psara Energy's lawyers have laid hands on the vessel.
TradeWinds reported in 2016 that a Texas judge had thrown out an arrest of the Advantage Arrow in a separate dispute between the two feuding groups. Federal magistrate judge Frances Stacy found "no evidence... that there is any financial unity between [father] Karamehmet and [daughter] Williams" or that Geden controlled or dominated Advantage.
But now Psara Energy says new evidence shows former Geden Lines tankers were fraudulently transferred to new owner Advantage to escape its claims and those of other unsecured creditors.
Psara Energy lawyer Gaitas claims Advantage officials "committed perjury in their depositions on the very issue of the restructuring of Geden Holdings and its transformation into Advantage Tankers".
The perjury allegations pertain to Future Holdings, an entity originally planned as a vehicle for a joint venture between Karamehmet-Williams and two New York hedge funds that later dropped out.
In January 2016 depositions, Karamehmet-Williams and Mat testified under oath that Future Holdings was an inactive company without assets or operations, while Tokgoz was uncertain.
Email evidence in the case appears to show Mat negotiating term sheets with Nord/LB bankers in October 2014 and discussing transactions by Future Holdings.
In a letter subsequent to the depositions, Tokgoz, as president of Future Holdings, writes that it had controlled seven product tankers since July 2013.
Meanwhile, Bank of New York Mellon records produced under subpoena and sealed from the public record allegedly show substantial cash transactions on the company's behalf in early 2014.
In a 2015 document, Tokgoz assured Shell Western Supply and Trading general manager David Chapman that the crude tankers on long-term charter to Shell would remain under the control of Geden Holdings after the changes in group structure.
