Chilean salmon-farming firm Australis has filed a new civil lawsuit against companies linked to former Australis owner Isidoro Quiroga, as well as a number of his family members and people considered part of his inner circle.
The legal maneuver – the latest in a series of actions that have taken place since 2023, when Chinese firm Joyvio, which bought Australis in 2018, first filed a major lawsuit against Quiroga – requests compensation for alleged damages that have caused a lasting negative impact on Australis. The firm is seeking more than CLP 414 billion (USD 476 million, EUR 406 million).
Soon to be heard by the 15th Civil Court of Santiago, the latest legal action alleges what the plaintiffs have sustained for years: that the selling group at the time Joyvio bought Australis, managed and controlled by Quiroga, designed an illicit system of overproduction, which was deliberately maintained and perfected over time for illegitimate benefit.
Chilean law governing salmon-farming concessions establishes a specific amount of biomass that can be produced per farming cycle without affecting environmental surroundings; anything produced over that limit is considered overproduction and a crime that threatens ecological balance.
“The magnitude of this illegality only began to be revealed once the new controlling group appointed a new CEO in mid-2022 to replace [then-CEO] Ricardo Misraji. Among the antecedents that began to be known from that date is a secret contract, a ‘gentlemen's agreement,’ signed between Misraji and Isidoro Quiroga by virtue of which the latter promised a payment of up to USD 2.5 million [EUR 2.1 million] to the former in exchange for his silence and cooperation for overproduction and its concealment,” Australis said.
The concealment of these illegal practices from 2019 to 2022 was not accidental or detectable through a reasonable due diligence process since the critical information was under the exclusive control of the seller, Australis has alleged. The newest lawsuit also states that at the time of its sale, Australis was presented as a company that complied with current environmental regulations, when in reality it operated outside of its environmental resolutions, exposing the company to serious regulatory and economic contingencies.
“The defendants structured the sale of Australis on the basis of an appearance of legality that is not at all consistent with the operational reality of the company. They internalized the economic benefit of overproduction and caused immense damage to Australis,” Jorge Bofill, an attorney for Australis, said.
Quiroga has called similar past accusations “falsehoods and slander,” saying that all information regarding salmon production would have been evident in the due diligence process. Further, his legal team has said that after the sale, Australis willingly continued with the overproduction, as ordered by Joyvio, and that this practice came to light only after Chilean environmental authorities had changed criteria and increased controls over salmon production in the country.
Asesorías e Inversiones Benjamín, a Quiroga-led family holding company that represents his interests, has called into question the latest legal move by Australis.
“At the end of the day, Australis' lawsuit is nothing more than a communication strategy. The reiteration of accusations already rejected in Chile and abroad only shamelessly seeks mentions in press to try to influence pending cases, which is as obvious as it is unacceptable,” the firm said in a statement sent to SeafoodSource, referencing cases filed by Joyvio that were closed in the U.S. states of Delaware and Florida, as well as in England. “The lawsuit recycles the same allegations that have been repeatedly rejected by the courts as contrary to the evidence.”
The latest lawsuit comes after a Chilean arbitration tribunal’s 2025 ruling that ordered Quiroga and family members to pay USD 292 million (EUR 249 million) to Joyvio for what the tribunal considered was overpricing. In October last year, Asesorías e Inversiones Benjamín filed an appeal with the Santiago Court of Appeals, requesting that the tribunal’s decision be overturned.
Whereby the arbitration tribunal ruled in favor of Joyvio, the latest lawsuit now seeks to restitute damages to Australis itself, according to a release from the Chilean salmon-farming firm.
