Prosecutors in Guatemala and El Salvador’s Specialized Organized Crime Court have issued arrest warrants and requested international assistance regarding three executives of Ohio-based TPG Peppertree: Ryan Lepene (from left), F. Howard Mandel and John Ranieri. However, police in Chagrin Falls are unlikely to act. Foreign warrants and Interpol notices do not carry arrest authority in the United States without a separate U.S. extradition proceeding, which requires a treaty review, dual criminality findings, and evidence that meets U.S. legal standards. Those criteria are often not met in cases originating from corporate or shareholder disputes, making extradition unlikely.
A federal judge in New York has issued a civil contempt ruling against DT Holdings, Inc., an affiliate of Terra Towers Corp., after the company failed to turn over documents related to an ongoing criminal investigation in Guatemala. The order, issued on November 6, 2025, is tied to efforts to enforce an arbitration award of more than $300 million issued earlier this year in favor of Peppertree Capital and AMLQ Holdings, an investment vehicle associated with Goldman Sachs.
Long-Running Battle Over Control of Continental Towers LATAM
The contempt ruling is the latest development in a long-running dispute over control and disposition of Continental Towers LATAM, a tower company operating across multiple Central American markets. The core of the conflict dates back to a 2015 shareholders’ agreement that gave Peppertree Capital the contractual right to initiate a sale of the tower business.
An international arbitration panel under the ICDR concluded that Terra Towers’ principal, Jorge Hernández, obstructed the process, interfered with governance, and breached his obligations under the agreement. The tribunal ultimately awarded more than $300 million in damages and punitive penalties in March 2025, and U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan later confirmed the award, making it enforceable in the United States.
Court Sanctions Issued After Document Production Failure
The court has since ordered Terra-affiliated entities to provide documentation regarding a parallel Guatemalan criminal proceeding referred to as the “Towers Seizure” case. When DT Holdings failed to produce any of the required material, the court imposed civil contempt sanctions to compel compliance. The ruling applies specifically to DT Holdings and does not, on this issue, extend to Terra Towers, TBS Management, or Hernández individually.
International Arrest Warrants Complicate Cross-Border Enforcement
While enforcement efforts continue in New York, authorities in El Salvador and Guatemala have initiated their own criminal actions involving individuals connected to the tower business.
Regional reporting indicates that international arrest warrants and extradition requests have been issued naming three U.S.-based individuals associated with Peppertree Capital—Ryan Lepene, F. Howard Mandel, and John Ranieri—alongside former Continental Towers CEO Jorge Leonel Gaitán Paredes and his father, Jorge Alberto Gaitán Castro. As part of those proceedings, Guatemalan courts have appointed a judicial interventor to oversee tower operations and have restricted asset transfers, positioning the tower network under court-supervised continuity protocols.
Continental Towers Claims Criminal and Commercial Matters Are Separate
Continental Towers has addressed the situation publicly on its interventoría website, stating that the judicial supervision is intended to protect national communications infrastructure and ensure the uninterrupted operation of tower sites during the criminal investigation. The company argues that the criminal proceedings in Guatemala and El Salvador are legally distinct from the commercial arbitration decided in the United States and should not be interpreted as extensions of the same conflict.
As the company puts it in its public statement: “Linking the two proceedings constitutes a legal and ethical distortion that misrepresents the case and undermines the fundamental principle of independence between criminal matters and commercial disputes.”
TPG Acquired Peppertree Capital in 2025
The U.S. court, however, has taken the position that the arbitration award and resulting judgment remain binding and that foreign criminal proceedings do not excuse non-compliance with discovery or asset-turnover obligations. Judge Kaplan has repeatedly made clear that enforcement of the award will proceed on the commercial track regardless of developments in the foreign criminal courts.
At the time of the disputed conduct and the arbitration, the investor party involved was Peppertree Capital. In February 2025, TPG acquired Peppertree Capital for $960 million and integrated its tower and digital infrastructure investments into a broader investment platform. The post-acquisition branding of the company is TPG Peppertree.
Peppertree Dismisses Foreign Legal Threats After Court Victory
In a statement to Wireless Estimator, a TPG Peppertree spokesperson said, “Following nearly five years of litigation between Peppertree and Terra Towers Corp., an arbitration panel in New York unanimously awarded Peppertree $354 million against Terra Towers, and its representative Jorge Hernandez personally. This judgment included $25 million of punitive damages against Mr. Hernandez for, among other acts, instigating false criminal complaints. That arbitration ruling has now been confirmed by a federal district judge for the Southern District of New York. We are confident that any criminal inquiry brought now by Mr. Hernandez in a foreign court has no merit, and we will take appropriate steps to have this matter terminated.”
Peppertree’s Tower Investments Span North America and Overseas
Over the past decade, Peppertree Capital has been a significant financier of regional and mid-market tower and wireless infrastructure platforms, including Blue Sky Towers (funded through multiple equity and debt rounds), Octagon Towers (formed in 2019 to acquire and develop tower assets), TowerCo (backed with a substantial growth-capital commitment), and Everest Infrastructure Partners, which expanded its portfolio across the U.S., Australia, and Europe with Peppertree support. Earlier investments also include Branch Towers, Pegasus Tower Company, and Horvath Towers, reflecting Peppertree’s long-standing strategy of providing development capital to independent tower operators and build-to-suit platforms rather than large, publicly traded tower companies.
Case Now Crosses Commercial Enforcement and Criminal Inquiry Tracks
The dispute now spans multiple jurisdictions, legal frameworks, and enforcement mechanisms. In the United States, the issue remains one of contract enforcement and compliance with judgments. In Guatemala and El Salvador, the matter has evolved into criminal inquiries and court-supervised operational control. The resolution of either track may influence the other, but for now, both systems are proceeding on their own timelines, with neither showing signs of retreat.
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