Filing# 68098018 E-Filed 02/16/2018 03:59:04 PM

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE ELEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA

ABELARDO DE LA ESPRIELLA,

Plaintiff, v.

DANIEL CORONELL,

Defendant.

VERIFIED COMPLAINT (Jury Trial Demanded)

Plaintiff, Abelardo De La Espriella, sues Defendant, Daniel Coronell, for his defamatory

statements and alleges:

1. This is a civil action for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress,

based on statements made by the Defendant stating and/or implying that Alberardo De La Espriella

has engaged in illegal activities, tax evasion, influence peddling, bribery or corrupt activities.

Those statements and implications are false and/or designed to create false impressions and

implications, and demonstrate that the Defendant endorses the defamatory statements and

inferences.

2. The amount in controversy, exclusive of interest and costs, exceeds $15,000.

3. All conditions precedent to this action pursuant to Florida Statutes section 770.01

have been satisfied. Defendant Coronell was served with the required Notice on January 26, 2018.

I

PARTIES AND JURISDICTION

4. Plaintiff, Abelardo De La Espriella, is a lawful permanent resident of the United

States and resides in Miami, Florida.

5. Defendant, Daniel Coronell, is either a lawful permanent resident of the United

States or a United States citizen. He resides in Miami, Florida. He has published, in Miami-Dade

County, by electronic form, statements which constitute defamation by implication for the purpose

of harming Abelardo De La Espriella and causing him emotional distress.

6. Venue is proper in the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in and for Miami-Dade County,

Florida pursuant to Florida Statutes section 47.011.

FACTS

7. Defendant Daniel Coronell stated and published, by electronic means, statements

about Abelardo De La Espriella including, but not limited to:

a) Colombia has very prominent and successful lawyers. Some of them receive large fees for their work. They advise multinationals or file millionaire demands over which they charge important percentages. Many of these lawyers are rich on account of their work, but I only know one Colombian lawyer with a private jet.

b) He's Abelardo de la Espriella Otero. A criminal attorney who joined the fray in 2006, in the same column, when bidders for the El Dorado airport expansion had to reveal the law firms that advised them and the fees that were paid.

c) In that bidding process, along with the most prestigious law firms in Colombia an unknown firm called Lawyers Enterprise appeared, which the previous year had had a profit of just over one million pesos. The surprise did not stop there, the small Lawyers was charging the highest bidding fees. Its generous client was the consortium ASA International, of which the Nule were part.

2

d) The owner of the firm turned out to be Abelardo de la Espriella, of 28 years of age. Mr. de la Espriella was not known at that time for his legal achievements.

e) No one could explain - and to this day it's still a mystery -what valuable service could the young lawyer be providing to the Nule bidders to pay USD 800,000 for his advise.

f) The plane is a three-engine Dassault-Berguet Falcon 50 jet. It has the US registration number N963JN and is registered under the name of a company called Delaware Trust Co Trustee, in the state of the same name, which operates with tax haven characteristics within the United States.

g) Public records show that the jet, in addition to his favorite destinations of Bogota, Barranquilla and South Florida, has flown to Caracas, Venezuela; to Bonaire, in the Netherlands Antilles; and to the tax havens of Nassau, in the Bahamas, and George Town, in Grand Cayman.

8. Defendant Daniel Coronell made these statements in an article titled "El A vion"

("The Plane"), which was published on January 6, 2018. Copies of the original article, written in

Spanish, and an official translation into English, are attached as Exhibits to this Verified

Complaint.

9. Comments published by readers of the article, posted on line in response to the

article, reflect the defamatory implications which arose from the article. Among others, the

following comments were made, referring to the Coronell statements regarding Abelardo De La

Espriella:

• This man is even more enmeshed in corruption than the politicians. Justice has to put its radars at work to find out the source of his fortune ...

• Good for you my Coronel [sic]. We have to defeat corruption. Congratulations.

• Behind every great fortune, there is a crime ...

3

• Behind these lawyers, that flash around money of dubious origin and that are well connected with the government; there is always something hidden that is rotten ...

• You Idiot, the reflection and the core message of the column is not about the goods but about the origin of the money used to acquire them. Think, use your head for more than a hat rack ....

• The issue here is not about the good or bad taste of the lawyer. Here, the issue is that no one in Colombia can jump from middle class to millionaire in such a short time ... added to those trips to tax havens, it is possible that the Nule asked him to take some millions of tax havens? ... Remember that all the money that the Nule belongs to the Colombian citizens that paid their taxes to the government ...

• Coronel is exposing/unmasking more than one "decent person" big-time.

COUNT I. DEFAMATION BY IMPLICATION

10. Plaintiff repeats and realleges paragraphs 1-9.

11. Each of the above statements was made intentionally and juxtaposes a series of

"facts" so as to imply a defamatory connection between them and/or create a defamatory

implication by omitting facts, to create a different meaning than the truth and to impart false

innuendos, suggestions, impressions and implications that Plaintiff Abelardo De La Espriella has

engaged in illegal and/or corrupt activities.

12. The above statements were published and designed to reach and convey to

Plaintiff's business, social, legal (Plaintiff is a lawyer) and family communities the false

impression of nefarious and improper conduct by the Plaintiff in his personal, social, legal and

business life.

13. The above statements have harmed Abelardo De La Espriella in his personal,

social, legal, business and personal reputations and caused him actual damages.

4

14. Wherefore, Plaintiff Abelardo De La Espriella seeks compensatory damages, and

upon proper application under Florida law, punitive damages. Plaintiff demands a trial by jury.

ANDRES DAZA Fla. Bar No.: 1001017 COUNSELOR DAZA, P.A. 3089 SW 21 51 Street Miami, FL33145 Phone: (305)699-8781 info@counselordaza.com

Respectfully submitted,

Isl Bruce S. Rogow BRUCE S. ROGOW Fla. Bar No. 067999 TARA A. CAMPION Fla. Bar No. 0090944 BRUCE S. ROGOW, P.A. I 00 N .E. Third A venue, Ste. 1000 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301 Phone: (954)767-8909 Fax: (954)764.1530 brogow@rogowlaw.com tcampion@rogowlaw.com

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that the foregoing Complaint was filed via ePortal and served via email

upon all counsel below on this 16th day of February, 2018.

Counsel for Daniel Coronel!

DEANNA K. SHULLMAN SHULLMAN FUGATE PLLC 2101 Vista Parkway, Suite 4006 West Palm Beach, FL 33411 Phone: (561) 429-3619 dshullman@shullmanfugate.com

5

VERIFICATION BY ABELARDO DE LA ESPRIELLA

I. Abelardo De La Espriella.. hereby state that I have read the foregoing Verified Complaint ,;:;::, ........................... .

and that the facts set forth herein are true to the best of mv k-ffowledge, infofr!nati.elfr and belief .. • I \ J'- !/ : . ' . ""'-!' '

By: '.' L ~.' j/,_~- :_._ .. _} ABELARDO DE .. LA ESPRIEtLA ... //

ST A TE OF FLORIDA ) COUNTY OF BROWARD )

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Notary Public My Commission Expires:

CECIUAOOIMV£Y MY COMMISSION f FF 941248

EXPIRES: December 30. 2019 ~'\dt4 Thro Notit')' ~..Oli<: l.'MllW'itm

EXHIBIT 1

Officlal Translation No. OOZS-18 into English of a document written In Spanish Page 1 ofZ

SEMANA MAGAZINE

Opinion

Daniel Coronel!· 2018/01106 22:15

The Plane No one could explain -and to this day it's still a mystery- what valuable service could the young lawyer be providing to the Nule bidders to pay USD 800,000 for his advise.

Colombia has very prominent and successful lawyers. Some of them receive large fees for their work. They advise multinationals or file millionaire demands over which they charge important percentages. Many of these lawyers are rich on account of their work, but I only know one Colombian lawyer with a private jet.

He's Abelardo de la Espriella Otero. A criminal attorney who joined the fray in 2006, in this same column, when bidders for the El Dorado airport expansion had to reveal the law firms that advised them and the fees that were paid.

In that bidding process, along with the most prestigious law firms in Colombia an unknown firm called Lawyers Enterprise appeared, which the previous year had had a profit of just over one million pesos. The surprises did not stop there, the small Lawyers was charging the. highest bidding fees. Its generous client was the consortium ASA Internacional, of which the Nule were part.

The owner of the firm turned out to be Abelardo de la Espriella, of 28 years of age. Mr De la Espriella was not known at that time for his legal achievements. His little fame was linked to the peace process with the paramilttaries and a foundation that advocated for the prohibition of extradition and for the State to recognize the same status for all armed actors. You can read the column that relates these events in Semana.com. (Read the column here).

No one could explain -and to this day it's still a mystery- what valuable service could the young lawyer be providing to the Nule bidders to pay USO 800,000 for his advise.

Shortly after, Abelardo de la Espriella would rise to fame for his intelligence and skills -undeniable-, but above all for his way of seeking recognition in the media and also in social networks.

In these networks the lawyer has been posting photos of him and his jet. One of them portrays him posing with a distracted look at the horizon, at the perfect angle for the engines to be seen, while he goes down the ladder with a Louis Vuitton bag in his hand.

Another one taken inside the aircraft sees him with his right hand on the brim of his hat and holding a glass in the other hand, lifted barely enough for the sleeve of his shirt to slide down and show his gold watch. An Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks Offshore (really, that's the name). with a price that exceeds 84,000 dollars. according to the catalog. Something like 250 million pesos to decorate the wrist.

The plane is a three-engine Dassault-Breguet Falcon 50 jet. It has the US registration number N963JN and is registered under the name of a company called Delaware Trust Co Trustee, in the state of the same name, which operates with tax haven characteristics within the United States.

AND NtO JANER MORENO rraclucwr e J11t:Crprfi.e Ofld~es

Ingles • Espa!iol Espallol • 1"& C rtlftcado de ldoneldad No. 04-01 ~o el 20 de AgosW de 20H-

Official Translation No. 0025-18 Into English of a document written In Spanish Page2 of2

When I asked Mr. De la Espriella, a few weeks ago, who the plane belonged to, he replied "Belongs to a friend and business partner of mine." He did not reveal the identity of his business partner, nor did he tell me how much his jet cost: "I don't have to explain these things.· ·

Public records show that the jet, in addition to his favorite destinations of Bogota, Barranquilla and South Florida, has flown to Caracas, Venezuela; to Bonaire, in the Netherlands Antilles; and to the tax havens of Nassau, in the Bahamas, and George Town, in Grand Cayman.

In the conversation, Mr De la Espriella also told me that he had recently been to Cuba, but he didn't fly in his own jet but in a friend's, whose identity he couldn't reveal either.

He assured me that it was an exclusively tourist visit of just one day and that he did not meet anyone of interest there. He couldn't even tell me who accompanied him on his whirlwind trip to the island where the castro-chavism that he so despises emerged.

Anyway, the billionaire lifestyle of Mr Abelardo de la Espriella seems to be more interesting than the life he leads in Colombian courts. Or maybe not.

The above is a true and accurate translation into English of a document written In Spanish Issue Date: January 16, 2018 Andres Antonio Janer Moreno Certified Translator and Interpreter Certificate of Professional Qualification No. 04-01 of August 20, 2014 Unlversidad Naclonal de Colombia

Rt5 mo JAMER MOREMO ANDT'rtJduciol', 111tet-pretll Oftcl~,_

es. Bspa.Aol Espaf!ol • In.,..,,. \nglrtiftcado de ldoneldad No. 0401 ~o el 20 de AgostD de 2014

EXHIBIT 2

TENDENCIAS )

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VER MAS CfTENDENCIASl

ELECCIONES 2018 (!NOTICIAS/ELECCIONES-2018/112729) IORGE ENRIQUE ROBLEDO (INQTICIA$/IORGE-ENRIOUE-ROBLEDQ/103934)

Opinion Filtrar por autor

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Nadie se explicaba -y hoy sigue sin explicarse- cual valioso servicio podfa prestar

el joven abogado para que los licitantes Nule le pagaran 800.000 d61ares por una

asesorfa.

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Colombia tiene abogados muy destacados y exitosos. Algunos de ellos perciben

abultados honoraries por su trabajo. Asesoran multinacionales o interponen

millonarias demandas sabre las cuales cobran importantes porcentajes. Muchos de

esos abogados son ricos par cuenta de su trabajo, pero solo conozco un abogado

colombiano con jet privado.

Se trata de Abelardo de la Espriella Otero. Un penalista que salt6 a la palestra en el

afio 2006, en esta misma columna, cuando los proponentes de la licitaci6n para la

ampliaci6n del aeropuerto El Dorado tuvieron que revelar las firmas de abogados

que los asesoraban y los honoraries que les pagaban.

En esa licitaci6n, al lado de los bufetes juridicos mas prestigiosos de Colombia,

apareci6 una desconocida firma Hamada Lawyers Enterprise, que el afio anterior

habia tenido una utilidad apenas superior a un mill6n de pesos. Las sorpresas no

pararon ahi, la pequefia Lawyers estaba cobrando los honoraries mas altos de la 0 o~•-eroso cliente era el consorcio ASA Internacional, del que hacian

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El dueiio de la firma result6 ser Abelardo de la Espriella, de 28 aiios de edad. El

doctor De la Espriella no era conocido, en ese tiempo, por sus logros jurfdicos. Su

escasa fama estaba ligada al proceso de paz con los paramilitares y a una

fundaci6n que pedfa prohibir la extradici6n y que el Estado le reconociera el mismo

estatus a todos los actores armadas. Ustedes pueden leer la columna que relata

estos hechos en Semana.com. (Lea la columna aqui

(http:Uwww.semana.com/opinion/articulo/el-apoderado/80545-3))

Nadie se explicaba -y hoy sigue sin explicarse- cual valioso servicio podfa prestar

el joven abogado para que los licitantes Nule le pagaran 800.000 d6lares por una

asesorfa.

Poco tiempo despues Abelardo de la Espriella saltaria a la fama por su inteligencia

y habilidad -innegables-, pero sobre todo por su manera de buscar reconocimiento

en los medics de comunicaci6n y tambien en las redes sociales.

En esas redes el abogado viene publicando fotos suyas y de su jet. Una de ellas lo

retrata posando con distrafda mirada al horizonte, en el angulo perfecta para que

se vean las turbinas, mientras el baja la escalerilla con un maletf n Louis Vuitton en

la mano.

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Otra tomada en el interior de la aeronave lo deja ver con la mano derecha en el ala

de! sombrero y con un vaso en la otra mano que sube un poquito, apenas lo

suficiente para que se levante la manga de su camisa y deje ver su reloj de oro. Un

Audemars Piguet Royal Oaks Offshore (de verdad, se llama asi) cuyo precio

supera los 84.000 d61ares, segun catalogo. Algo asi coma 250 millones de pesos

para adornarse la mufieca.

0 Qa~s- Dassault-Breguet Falcon 50 de tres turbinas. Tiene la matricula

~~963JN y esta registrado a nombre de una comparifa llamada

- elaware Trust Co Trustee, en el estado del mismo nombre que opera con

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Cuando le pregunte al doctor De la Espriella, hace unas semanas, de quien era el

avian me respondi6 "De un amigo socio y mfo". No me revel6 la identidad de su

socio, ni me cont6 cuanto costaba su jet: "No tengo que dar explicaci6n sobre esas

cosas".

Los records publicos muestran que el jet ademas de sus destinos favoritos de

Bogota, Barranquilla y el sur de la Florida, ha volado a Caracas, Venezuela; a

Bonaire, en las Antillas Holandesas; y a las paraisos fiscales de Nassau, en las

Bahamas, y George Town, en Grand Cayman.

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En la conversaci6n, el doctor De la Espriella tambien me cont6 que recientemente

habfa estado en Cuba, pero no habfa volado en su jet sino en el de un amigo, cuya

identidad tampoco podfa revelar.

Invierta En Cartagena Ultimos dias con inversion desde $66.000.000 Registrese ya

Me asegur6 que se trat6 de una visita exclusivamente turistica de apenas un dfa y

que no se reuni6 alla con nadie de interes. Tampoco me podfa contar quienes lo

acompanaron en su viaje relampago a la isla donde naci6 el castrochavismo que el

tanto desprecia.

~ ~n@,~a de billonario que se da el doctor Abelardo de la Espriella, parece

ser mas interesante que la que lleva en los estrados colombianos. O quizas no.

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