New York
Cnn
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Earlier this week, the former Bifa-Chief of Goya Foods self-publicized a mysterious press release of his departure from the company. Robert “Bob” Unanue said that after nearly five decades in the family business, he was suddenly informed that his “employment” in the company was over and he had no “real answer” why, noting that Goya did not publicly show that he was not running the company.
“While the decision (of the board) has left many unanswered questions,” Unanue, a prominent supporter of President Donald Trump, continued on X, “One thing is for sure – I will not withdraw in my fight against child trafficking,” referring to his opinion that open border policies lead to exploitation and traffic.
The post has about 70,000 likes on X and support in comments from conservative support accounts.
But a lawsuit filed in Bergen County, New Jersey Superior Court from Bob Unanue’s Cousin and Goya Executive and Francisco Board member “Frankie” Unanue on February 5 claims Bob Unanue engaged in a “clandestine agreement” that allowed “Looting” of Goya and then “Colluded” with a ” “, that made the injured”, relying on Goya. ”
Bob Unanue was aware of why he left the Board at least in early February – and had nothing to do with Unanue political tendencies or anti -child trafficking work, according to a source associated with anonymous board because they are not authorized to speak publicly.
In a statement, Goya Foods said that “her latest decision regarding a change in leadership has absolutely no connection with politics, media appearances, nor has it affected our vital work in protecting children and addressing food insecurity through our Cares Goya and Goya gives initiatives.”
In a statement, a representative for Bob Unanue said, “any claims against Mr. Unanue are non -sisorns, absurd and have absolutely no merit. The charges are at the same time a smoke and slander screen and will be addressed accordingly.”
CNN has reached Frankie Unanue for comment.
The lawsuit alleges that for nearly a decade, Bob Unanue failed to oversee his “Decade Friend” and the hand -selected head of the company’s IT department, Suvaji Basu. Bob entered a “clandestine agreement” to hire Basu for five years without the knowledge of the board, claims the lawsuit and “activated, helped and descended Basu”, which led to a weakness in the IT structure, three complete closure of the system within a year and millions of dollars of misused funds.
Goya Foods filed a lawsuit against Basu in October 2024. In February, Frankie joined the case as the plaintiff and named Bob as defendants.
A representative for Basu refused to comment.
“There is simply no doubt that Bob deliberately failed to exercise his assignment task, tried to intervene in Goya’s usual business and allowed Basu for years to have ‘Carte Blanche’ on Goya’s IT function,” said February updated lawsu of it.
This resulted in millions of dollars dissolved, the lawsuit said.
For example, after Basu became head in 2015, he cleared employees and brought people Related to it, it is said in the lawsuit. These associates were serving duplicative roles, which made the company pay excessive counseling fees, on February complaint.
Bob forcibly defended Basu even after the end of Basu in October 2024, according to the lawsuit, claiming that the Board urged him to light Basu without cause and Basu was subject to harassment and slander.
But Frankie Unanue’s lawsuit claims that Bob Unanue refused to attend a board meeting with respect to a Independent investigation into Basu and tried to destroy responsibility for the IT department towards others, everyone while refusing to return his electronic equipment to the Goya board and claiming that the author of the investigation had an “unknown agenda”.
Bob Unanue then continued to create “a fictitious written record” to support Basu, claims complaints.
Basu, in a complaint against, claimed that Bob’s brother and deputy chairman of Goya Foods Peter Unanue, as well as Frankie, allowed and promoted discrimination and a hostile work environment over the age of Basu and Indian background, including “racist jokes and verbal abuse”, as said by Goya’s leaders who had “many Indians.”
Goya said in a statement that he denies “all charges in the opposite claim of Basu and the complaint of third parties.”
Basu’s complaint also claims that its improvements in the company’s internal systems, including automated demand forecast systems that “increased income to hundreds of millions of dollars” were “Goya’s main incident to a billion dollar corporation with approximately $ 4,000 worldwide”.
Although Goya is a private company, the lawsuit said it generates over $ 1.5 billion annual income.
Frankie’s lawsuit against Bob claims violation of the duty of trust, among other charges, and requires compensatory damage, punitive damage and lawyers’ fees. He also requires a trial from the jury.
The country’s largest food company in the country, owned by the country, are rarely published due to the dynamics of the family -controlled company and the fact that the company is private, not publicly owned.
The company was founded in 1936 by Bob’s grandfather, Don Prudencio Unanue and his wife Carolina. The nine -member board is still fully composed of members of the Unanue family, the source said.
Francisco, Peter and Bob are the third generation of the Unanue family to run Goya, the court documents said.
“This is a family issue and they deal with those things as they always do,” the source said. “Private and through the board.”
“There is no reason he should be shocked,” the source added. “Was discussed with him.”
Unanue links to politics have landed it and the company in hot water in the past.
In 2021, the Board voted to censor Bob for questionable remarks in question The legitimacy of the November 2020 elections. He was no longer allowed to speak to the media without the Board’s permission, a source told CNN in 2021.
Bob Unanue praised Trump in his first term, saying, “We are all really blessed … to have a leader like President Trump who is a builder. We have an extraordinary builder and pray. We pray for our leadership, our President.”
These comments spread like wild fire on the Internet, leading social media users to call a company boycott.
Bob spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2024 in support of Trump, saying “four years ago, I dared to say that we were blessed by Donald J. Trump … we got into trouble for this.”
Maria Santana and Chris Isidore and CNN contributed to this report.