Chilean salmon-farming firm Australis Seafoods, which is owned by Chinese seafood firm Joyvio, has filed an extension of its lawsuit against former company executives accusing them of unfair administration.
Joyvio purchased Australis from Chilean businessman Isidoro Quiroga in 2018 for USD 921 million (EUR 796 million), after which it accused the selling party of hiding, falsifying, and adulterating critical information during the sale’s due diligence process, which artificially inflated the company’s valuation.
The firm has now expanded one of its lawsuits to accuse former Administration and Finance Manager Santiago Garretón and former Legal Manager Rubén Henríquez of providing false and incomplete information in 2021 – years after the sale to Joyvio – in order to cover up a charge from Chile’s environmental regulatory body, SMA, regarding salmon overproduction.
According to the complaint now filed with the Fourth Court of Guarantee of Santiago, this adulterated information was prepared for the SMA and for the Chinese capital market in order for Australis to obtain financing. It was reportedly handed over to Chinese law firm Grandall and Chilean law firm Cariola, Díez, and Pérez-Cotapos, which then prepared documents for the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC).
Australis asserts that both Garretón and Henríquez had “deep knowledge” of the company’s serious overproduction problem and that they knew production and environmental compliance reports were being falsified.
Accounts submitted by Australis in this latest suit against the defendants include Henríquez signing a “Letter of Confirmation” on behalf of the company in July 2021, in which he reportedly falsely stated that the company did not face any risks of relevant environmental sanctions or serious administrative processes. The letter was submitted despite the fact that nine days earlier, SMA had notified Australis of new charges for overproduction at its Córdova 3 center, where authorized volume had been exceeded by more than 3,800 metric tons.
Other evidence submitted by Australis include a December 2020 email that Garretón sent to close associates, warning that the information on the overproduction detected at different Australis centers should strictly be kept as internal information.
According to the company, this showcases the defendants’ level of secrecy and deliberate coordination to hide essential information from both the Australis board of directors and its controlling company Joyvio, thereby violating fiduciary duties and corporate loyalty.
It was this distorted information that was handed over to the Chinese regulator, according to the expanded suit, affecting the veracity of Australis financial reports and possibly misleading authorities and investors at the CSRC, Australis asserts.
“These facts are not isolated, and they are not errors but are part of a systematic pattern of unfair administration and concealment of information promoted during the administration of former controller Isidoro Quiroga Moreno and his closest entourage, falsifying information sent to national and international authorities and exposing the company to serious regulatory and financial risks,” Australis lawyer Jorge Bofill said in a statement sent to SeafoodSource.
Australis said it will continue to collaborate with the Chilean Public Prosecutor's Office in order to establish “all the criminal responsibilities arising from these events and to punish those who acted in the detriment of the company, its shareholders, and the market.”
Quiroga has maintained that all accusations against him are “falsehoods and slander,” and his legal representatives have filed countersuits.
Quiroga’s legal team previously accused Australis of resorting to threats, witness tampering, and false statements in its legal action against Quiroga. Henríquez reportedly previously testified that Australis’ current CEO Andrés Lyon and a local Chilean corporate lawyer told him they had information to criminally implicate him but would offer him a “golden bonus” if he were to collaborate on Joyvio’s behalf.
Henríquez refused to sign the agreement, and Joyvio then made good on their threat, according to Quiroga’s legal team: In March 2025, Joyvio filed an extension of its lawsuit for fraud, this time directed against Henríquez.
Other stakeholders, including relatives of deceased former Australis CEO Ricardo Misraji, reportedly said they had also been contacted by Joyvio representatives and were threatened with the release of sensitive information – such as properties, investments, and transactions – unless they collaborated with Joyvio during the investigation, according to Quiroga’s legal team.
In a separate case, a Santiago Chamber of Commerce tribunal found that Australis was overpriced when Joyvio bought the firm from Quiroga, ordering the restitution of USD 292 million (EUR 252 million) to Joyvio. Quiroga’s defense filed an appeal seeking the annulment of that arbitration award.
