Page 12 - aruba-today-20180825

A12 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 25 auguSt 2018
Maduro's stepsons face scrutiny in $1.2 billion graft case

By JOSHUA GOODMAN In his plea deal signed
Associated Press Wednesday, Krull said that
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Conspirator 7 asked him in
As President Nicolas Madu- 2016 to help launder $600
ro has pushed forward with million from fraudulent busi-
his plan to rescue Venezue- ness transactions with PD-
la's cratering economy, U.S. VSA. Later, he appealed to
prosecutors are looking into him for an "urgent solution"
whether members of his to move an additional $200
family were simultaneously million held in a European
benefiting from what they bank on behalf of other
contend was a scheme to unnamed individuals. Krull
siphon off $1.2 billion from said he joined the conspir-
the state-owned oil com- acy after being introduced
pany, two people familiar directly to Los Chamos at
with the U.S. investigation the offices of Conspirator 7.
told The Associated Press. Krull said in the plea deal
The investigation, which that it was explained to him
gained momentum this how Los Chamos helped
week with a key guilty plea Conspirator 7 "solve issues
in Miami federal court, is with Venezuelan Official
part of a vast, multi-year ef- 2 by intervening with their
fort by U.S. prosecutors to mother, the wife of Venezu-
close the net on Maduro, elan Official 2."
who has largely dodged Krull's lawyer had no com-
the allegations of corrup- ment. Prosecutors in Miami
tion that have resulted in In this May 24, 2018 file photo, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores did not return a phone call
charges against several se- greets media as they arrive to military parade at Fort Tiuna in Caracas, Venezuela. seeking comment. Julius
nior officials. Associated Press Baer, which was not named
In court documents filed in the U.S. complaint, said
Wednesday, a Swiss bank- ages and hyperinflation in Venezuelan officials and a confidential source who it fully cooperates with au-
er named Matthias Krull the South American nation. their associates — comes reached out in 2014 offer- thorities but that it could
admitted that he plotted Several of those assets al- as Maduro is under in- ing to surrender his take not comment on potential
with men identified only as ready are being targeted creasing pressure to resign from the money-laundering client relationships.
"Los Chamos" — Venezue- for seizure, as well as about and on the heels of an at- scheme. Over the next two Prosecutors say the embez-
lan slang for "the kids" — to $45 million at City National tack with explosives-laden years, the unnamed indi- zled funds involved in Krull's
launder a $200 million slice Bank of New Jersey and drones that he has called vidual secretly recorded plea deal were generated
of stolen funds from the oil accounts in the Bahamas, an assassination attempt some 100 conversations by a 2014 loan that the oil
company PDVSA. the United Kingdom and mounted by the U.S. and with several conspirators, company obtained in local
Los Chamos actually are Switzerland. his opponents. including Krull, who until bolivars from a Venezuelan
Yoswal, Yosser and Walter Information Minister Jorge A Homeland Security inves- June worked in Panama for shell company. Two months
Flores, the children of First Rodriguez, one of Maduro's tigator said in last month's Zurich-based private bank later, they say, PDVSA re-
Lady Cilia Flores from a pre- closest aides, did not return criminal affidavit that the Julius Baer. paid the loan to a Hong
vious relationship and thus repeated messages from conspirators ginned up Krull is described in the crim- Kong-based shell company
Maduro's stepsons, accord- the AP seeking comment. a currency-exchange inal complaint as a "high- called Eaton Global, which
ing to the two Americans No contact information scheme using fake loan level" banker who man- had taken over the loan, at
who discussed the case was available for Maduro's agreements with the oil gi- aged the wealth of several an official exchange rate
with the AP. They spoke on stepsons so they could not ant designed to embezzle Venezuelan officials and well above the black mar-
the condition of anonym- be reached for comment. about $1.2 billion at a time "kleptocrats." He also was ket rate used by the ma-
ity because of the sensitive In daily, hours-long appear- of collapsing production referred to as the "person- jority of Venezuelans when
nature of the allegations. ances on state TV, Maduro levels. al banker" for "Conspira- buying hard currency.
In a criminal complaint un- has cultivated an image of At the center of the tor 7," who is described as Prosecutors say that al-
sealed last month and as himself as a plain-speaking scheme, prosecutors con- the owner of a Venezuelan lowed Eaton, which they
part of a factual statement everyman motivated more tend, was Krull, a German TV network and billionaire contend was controlled by
filed with Krull's plea agree- by ideology than personal national with roots in Ven- member of the so-called the conspirators, to collect
ment, he and prosecutors gain. But that reputation ezuela. He was arrested in "boliburgues" that made some 511 million euros from
refer to them as the "step- began to change when July at Miami's airport on a fortunes under the Bolivari- PDVSA — almost 15 times
sons" of "Venezuelan Offi- two of his wife's nephews criminal complaint naming an revolution started by the the original loan amount,
cial 2," who the two Ameri- were convicted in New him and seven other defen- late Hugo Chavez. according to Krull's plea
cans said is Maduro. York in 2016 of conspiring to dants, as well as nine un- The two people familiar with and worksheets obtained
Maduro, his wife and her smuggle cocaine, expos- named conspirators, some the case said Conspirator 7 by investigators.
sons were not named in ing his little-known family of them former PDVSA of- is Raul Gorrin, who became One of the first lady's neph-
the complaint. But both life to the scrutiny of U.S. in- ficials. Krull later agreed to president of Globovision ews was serving as PDVSA's
sources said prosecutors vestigators for the first time. cooperate with prosecu- shortly after he and oth- vice president of finance at
are looking for any links Corruption is rampant in tors and was charged with ers in 2013 purchased the the time the loan was re-
between the first couple Venezuela, and U.S. pros- a single count of conspira- popular network and soft- paid to Eaton.
and what they believe is a ecutors have uncovered cy to commit money-laun- ened its anti-government Cilia Flores' three sons range
network that funneled hun- billions in fraud and bribes dering, for which he faces news coverage. Gorrin's in age from 28 to 39. Two of
dreds of millions of Venezu- at PDVSA. up to 10 years in prison. Miami lawyer did not return them, Yoswal and Yosser,
ela's oil wealth into south The Miami probe — the According to court records, an email and attempts to have kept a low profile and
Florida luxury real estate, at biggest money-laundering prosecutors arrested Krull contact him at Globovision never occupied public of-
a time of widespread short- case ever lodged against based on information from were unsuccessful. fice. q