In August, 2014 Mario Roitman, a Miami-based lawyer specialized in trademarks, got hired to register the tequila brands Honor and Honor del Castillo before the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
“I am specialized in trademarks and I just registgered both,” said Roitman to EL UNIVERSAL without providing details about the company owned by Kate del Castillo, registered at 16192 Coastal Highway, Delaware.
He referred all questions to the PR firm Mercury LLC in California, under investigation to determine if Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán invested in the company as Del Castillo's partner. EL UNIVERSAL could not obtain a reply from this company.
According to corporate lawyers, the decision of registering Tequila Honor and Tequila Honor del Castillo in Delaware could only have two explanations: the incredible tax benefits and the opacity given to owners and shareholders due to the state's scarce regulation.
“Delaware protects more the privacy of the owners and offers more confidentiality than any other U.S. state,” said David Brunori, a laywer specialized in tax and corporate affairs of the George Washington University.
Almost one million companies are registered in Delaware and 80% are based abroad.
Also, may of them use the same address. For example Corporation Trust Center, a building located on 1209 North Orange, Wilmington, is the “seat” of 6,500 corporations and the business address of 200,000 firms both, in and outside the United States.