According to Forbes magazine,[7] Luis Noboa's heirs spent $20 million in legal fees culminating in a ruling by a British court: In November 2002 a London judge found that Álvaro rightfully owned a 49% stake in Fruit Shippers Ltd., the holding company for the family business.

But at the time of his death his interests also included coffee, sugar refining, flour milling, shipping, banking, insurance and soft drinks.

[19][20] In one 2002 incident striking workers at a Noboa subsidiary were attacked and–according to a Human Rights Watch report–several were shot by organized assailants.

It was said to the public and press that workers involved in this conflict were guilty of outrageous conduct at the farm, which motivated accusations brought forth before the authorities whereby the police had to intervene in order to safeguard company assets.

The company told that conflict arose causing substantial losses due to unlawful stoppage of agricultural activity.

"[26] Chiquita, Del Monte, Dole, Favorita and Noboa's company were all accused of being supplied by plantations on which children worked.

Noboa's company claims that to be untrue since child labor in the agricultural sphere is part of the existing countryside culture which not only asked but demanded the performance of some type of agricultural labor from its siblings during vacations, in order to make ends meet, and to avoid vagrancy and therefore the possibility of delinquent behavior.

"[27] As a businessman always on the lookout for new business opportunities and concerned about the economic situation of his country, Álvaro Noboa announced his decision in October 2009 to search for new international markets for his products, organizing meetings with foreign investors to bring about new deals.

[29][30] "I am too demotivated and knocked back to continue investing," said Álvaro Noboa to one member of the press who asked him about the reasons for his decision.

There, from the outset, they exempt us from paying taxes for five years and they grant us political protection, incentives, and we are even seen as popular heroes for giving employment, while here in Ecuador we are persecuted.

"[31] Markets like England and Eastern Europe are seen now as potential new clients for Ecuadorian products, such as bananas, flowers, crafts, shrimp, rice, and tuna, among others, according to the intentions manifested by Álvaro Noboa in his new worldwide commercial undertaking.

As of 2012, Noboa has sponsored three Biennale events over the years in order to exhibit the works of art of artists from all over the world and has recognized them with important Awards.

[38][39] In March 2005, Ecuador's government closed one of Noboa's companies, Elaborados de Café, a coffee-processing business, for failing to file a tax return.

[42] Ecuador's internal revenue director, Vicente Saavedra, denied that Noboa was being singled out and said audits were done on a million and a half taxpayers.

The banana exporting company also has been audited by international organisations due to child labor issues and strike conflicts.

The audit, undertaken by TP Consulting (who were contracted to carry out a study of the transfer prices of Bananera Noboa), revealed an amount to be paid of US$139,949.00.

[45] A judge in New York has recommended a $6.96m default judgment against Alvaro Noboa in NYKCool's long hunt for payment from the empire of the Ecuadorian banana baron.

If Magistrate Judge Andre Peck's recommendation is approved by the higher ranking jurist overseeing the lawsuit, it will follow a string of such judgments against companies alleged to be under Noboa's control.

[citation needed] NYKCool, the Stockholm-based subsidiary of Japan's NYK Line, has been seeking payment of a 2011 arbitration award for $8.79m, plus costs, over a collapsed contract of affreightment (COA) with companies associated with Noboa, who controls the Bonita Banana brand and who was placed fifth in last year's Ecuadorian presidential elections.

The reefer operator was finally able to collect some of the funds after District Judge Lewis Kaplan, of the federal court in Manhattan, which serves as the legal fight's epicentre, approved a default judgment against Noboa-linked fruit exporter Truisfruit in March.

"The failure of Noboa to state under oath whether he received email or other notice of the lawsuit will also be considered by the court in ruling on the plaintiff's default motion," Peck said at the time.

"[citation needed] Noboa's lawyers at law firm Paul Hastings had argued that the multimillionaire businessman was not subject to the jurisdiction of a court in New York but Peck said in his recommendation that NYKCool's allegations that other entities in the legal fight are mere alter egos of Noboa were enough to establish the court's ability to hear the case against him.

[47] His foundation "Crusade for a New Humanity"[48] (Spanish: Cruzada Nueva Humanidad)[49] draws on Noboa's personal fortune to fund social projects.

[50][51] In 1977, Noboa established the [Fundación Cruzada Nueva Humanidad (Crusade for a New Humanity Foundation)],[52] which began with the philosophy of fighting misery, disease, ignorance, spiritual weakness, hatred and other misfortunes that afflict man.

[57] During his short tenure as head of Ecuador's Monetary Board (August 1996-February 1997) Noboa owned a small bank, Banco Litoral, and collaborated as part of an economic team that included Domingo Cavallo, the architect of Argentina's monetary convertibility policy during the 1990s and special foreign advisor to Bucaram, David Goldbaum, head of the National Finance Corporation and owner of Banco Territorial, and Roberto Isaias, then-president of now-defunct Filanbanco, one of Ecuador's largest banks, who served as economic advisor.

[citation needed] Over the course of his public service career, which began in 1998 with his first-time candidacy for President of the Republic, Noboa has been the object of multiple denunciations and labor- and tax- related allegations, as well as political and personal, ideological attacks, by what he describes as powerful and influential political and commercial adversaries from within the country who wish to do him harm via a permanent smear campaign aimed at denigrating his honor and that of his family, thereby evading his fight against corruption on behalf of the poor and undermining his aim to transform Ecuador into a developed country.

Remonstrating, he pointed out that, "I have been attacked through my businesses, being discredited that I don't pay sufficient taxes, despite the fact that I, and the companies, are among the biggest contributors in the country.

He warns that he will not stop in light of the infamies and the attacks of all kinds because he loves Ecuador and desires education, health care, housing, a worthy life of well-being and progress for its people.

[citation needed] On 2 May 2012, Noboa announced that he would be running for a fifth time to become the President of Ecuador in the upcoming 2013 Ecuadorian Presidential Elections.

[73] Ecuador's Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the agency responsible for enforcing campaign spending law accepted Noboa's terms.