U.S. oil company Harvest Natural Resources has dropped a lawsuit against former Venezuelan oil minister Rafael Ramirez for allegedly demanding bribes to approve the company's sale of its Venezuelan assets, a U.S. court document showed on Aug. 26.

Harvest had won a $1.4 billion judgement against Ramirez, but the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas set that award aside last year, ruling Ramirez had not been properly notified.

"With the dismissal of this case, those making the accusations finally admit they were baseless from the start," Ramirez said in a statement.

Shares in Harvest ceased trading in May 2017 and the company began a three-year process of liquidating assets.