The multimillion-dollar legal dispute surrounding the telecommunications companies Continental Towers and Terra Towers has entered a critical phase in Central America. A Guatemalan criminal judge ordered the lifting of strict confidentiality in the arbitration proceedings in New York, USA, allowing the company to publicly present its defense and link the case to recent arrest warrants issued in El Salvador against TPG Peppertree executives linked to rival investment funds.
The Guatemalan court ruling comes amid serious criminal allegations in both Guatemala and El Salvador, confirming the intertwining of international commercial litigation with a wide network of alleged crimes in the region.
The Salvadoran context and the arrest warrants against Jorge Gaitán Castro, Ryan David Lepene, and the other executives
The decision in Guatemala comes after significant action by the Salvadoran justice system. In September 2025, the Sixth Court Against Organized Crime in San Salvador issued an international arrest warrant (with a request for a Red Notice to INTERPOL) against three US executives from TPG Peppertree: Ryan David Lepene, E. Howard Mandel, and John Joseph Ranieri; and two Guatemalans. All are accused of million-dollar fraud, extortion, and illicit association to the detriment of companies related to Continental Towers and Terra Towers.
The Guatemalan key: jurisdiction over Terra Towers and criminal sovereignty
The Guatemalan criminal judge’s ruling is a boost to judicial sovereignty in the region, especially since it maintains that no arbitration tribunal or judge in the United States has jurisdiction in Guatemala or any other country in the region. TPG Peppertree has attempted to use rulings from an arbitration award in New York to take control of the entire company to the detriment of Terra Towers and Continental Towers itself.
Therefore, this Guatemalan judge’s ruling allows Continental Towers to disclose its position on the details of a private arbitration, on the grounds that procedural confidentiality can no longer be upheld when it is used to obstruct or cover up criminal investigations in the public interest.
The judge also appointed a judicial administrator to Continental Towers to secure the company’s assets in Guatemala while the criminal investigation proceeds, reinforcing the seriousness of the criminal proceedings. This measure also has repercussions on Terra Towers’ corporate interests in the country, given the structural and patrimonial link between the two companies within the telecommunications group.
The Guatemalan Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) has backed the decision, warning that attempts to use arbitration could constitute obstruction of justice.
Ethics complaints in New York arbitration
Continental Towers and Terra Towers S.A., now free from censorship, expose on an internet platform (https://interventoriacontinentaltowers.com/) the serious irregularities that, according to them, vitiated the arbitration process and seek to undermine criminal investigations in Central America:
A. Irregularities and Ethical Violations in Arbitration (New York):
Breach of Confidentiality by the Presiding Arbitrator: Attorney Marc Goldstein, president of the Arbitration Tribunal, is accused of breaching his duty of confidentiality by publishing excerpts and analyses of the “supposedly confidential” proceedings on his personal blog and on legal platforms.
Alleged Manipulation of Testimony at Hearing: Referee Goldstein is accused of intervening, according to transcripts, to guide a witness (Carol Echeverría) to change her statement in order to neutralize a compromising admission about the theft of internal information.
Intentional Leaks by the Opposing Party: Partners TPG Peppertree and AMLQ made confidential arbitration documents public by using them in other, completely unrelated arbitration and judicial proceedings in jurisdictions such as El Salvador, Peru, and Guatemala, thereby violating the principle of independence.
Illegal or Improper Extraction of Internal Information: Admission by witnesses Jorge Gaitán Castro and Carol Echeverría of having accessed and stolen internal information from individuals and companies other than Continental Towers.
B. Arbitrariness due to Judicial Interference and Coercion:
Legal Distortion and Confusion of Processes: The complaint of an attempt to link and confuse commercial arbitration proceedings (US) with criminal proceedings (Latin America), which violates the basic principle of independence of matters.
Use of Arbitration Awards to Coerce Criminal Justice: The use of the conclusions of arbitration awards in the US to attempt to uphold or invalidate ongoing criminal proceedings in another country, described as a form of procedural manipulation and a risk to judicial sovereignty.
Documented Coercion and Extortion: Allegation that opposing partners have used legal actions and arbitration findings to coerce and extort Continental Towers and its executives.
Obstruction of Sovereign Justice: The Guatemalan Public Prosecutor’s Office has supported the separation of matters, warning that attempts to force the disclosure of criminal records through foreign arbitration could constitute obstruction of justice, as no private award limits the sovereignty of an ongoing criminal proceeding.
This case highlights the growing tension in Latin America between private investment litigation and the ability of states to prosecute economic crimes within their borders. Guatemala’s decision to prioritize its criminal jurisdiction sets a regional precedent on the limits of international arbitration versus sovereign justice.
