Javier Gutiérrez Becerril, former operations manager at CFE International, and Guillermo Turrent, former director of CFEnergía.Mexico Infrastructure Forum / Cuartoscuro
Two former officials of Mexico’s state energy company, the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), are being tried by a jury in a Texas court in an ongoing civil case over alleged corruption. Guillermo Turrent, who ran the company’s private offshore subsidiary, CFE International (CFEi), and Javier Gutiérrez, CFEi’s former chief operating officer, are accused of giving billions of dollars in unnecessary and overvalued natural gas deals to the undersigned Whitewater Midstream between 2016 and 2018 When he received the contracts, Whitewater was a small, unknown startup founded by friends and former colleagues of Turrent.
According to a transcript of a May 4 hearing obtained by EL PAÍS, a judge in Houston, Texas requested that Turrent and Gutiérrez appear at a jury trial in October 2024, a date that could change if the schedule were adjusted to the Court. CFEi’s legal team alleges that the Whitewater Accords benefited the Austin-based company and its executives and “did significant and lasting harm to CFEi, as well as to CFE, CFEnergía, and ultimately the people of Mexico.” CFEnergía is the name of CFEi in Mexico.
In 2021, the CFE launched an investigation into the contracts awarded to Whitewater, a recently formed energy company with no track record in the industry, after an investigation by EL PAÍS uncovered decades-long ties between Turrent, Gutiérrez and the Texas company’s founders
According to a public report, Turrent and Gutierrez have claimed their Fifth Amendment right as US citizens, which protects them from self-incrimination during interrogation. Both hold dual citizenship of Mexico and the United States.
In preparation for the trial, CFEi’s legal team issued a subpoena for Matthew Calhoun, a founder of Whitewater Midstream, who has a relationship with Turrent dating back to their days as colleagues at Royal Dutch Shell in California in the early 2000s. The summons asked Calhoun to deliver any documents or electronic communications between him, Turrent and Gutierrez. Calhoun is also instructed to keep all records “regarding payments, funds, [o] Compensation” from 2013 to date associated with Turrent, Gutiérrez or their private consultancies. Calhoun was also CEO of Antaeus Group, a company that received CFE contracts, while Turrent and Gutiérrez were executives of the state company.
According to the transcript obtained by EL PAÍS, Turrent and Gutiérrez’s defense in the US has filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the trial should take place in Mexico. CFEi’s Legal Department disagrees as all contracts in question were signed in the US and are subject to that jurisdiction.
CFE is a state company with implicit support from Mexican taxpayers. Its subsidiary CFEI was incorporated as a private company in the US, although owned by a state-owned company in Mexico. The contracts between CFEi and Whitewater are governed by US law and relate to pipelines located in the State of Texas.
Given the proposed timeline for the case, the trial would begin in October 2024 after the end of the term of office of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who has sought justice in the case. Mexico will elect a new president in July 2024.
In Mexico, the Attorney General’s Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office is conducting a criminal investigation into Turrent and has a pending case against Gutiérrez.
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