Two foreign managers of financial assets received formal accusations on Tuesday for their alleged participation in a money laundering scheme of 1,200 million dollars obtained from the state company Petróleos de Venezuela.
The United States Department of Justice reported that Swiss Ralph Steinmann, 48, and Argentine Luis Fernando Vuteff, 51, were charged by prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida with one count each for conspiracy to commit money laundering. money from the oil company.
According to court documents, which include the June 12 criminal complaint, Steinmann and Vuteff “conspired with others” between December 2014 and August 2018 to launder PDVSA funds using the U.S. financial system and accounts at other banks located abroad.
“The conspirators laundered illicit proceeds in connection with a corrupt foreign currency exchange scheme involving criminal Venezuelan officials,” according to the Justice Department.
Both defendants, as well as others who are not identified in the official note published this Tuesday, “allegedly discussed and agreed to create sophisticated financial mechanisms and relationships to launder more than 200 million dollars related to the scheme, as well as the opening of accounts for or for the benefit of at least two Venezuelan public officials to receive their payments for bribes” linked to this illicit business, he indicated.
Both Steinmann and Vuteff face up to 20 years in prison on the charges. According to the Department of Justice, a federal court judge for the Southern District of Florida will determine their possible sentences.
Only Vuteff has been arrested so far and Switzerland requested his extradition, despite having Argentine nationality, while Steinmann remains a fugitive from US justice, the statement details.
Operation MoneyFlight
The announcements about the charges against both defendants were announced by authorities from the Department of Justice, lawyers from the Southern District of Florida and officials from Homeland Security Investigations, in Miami.
This last body of the federal government is the one that leads the investigation of the corruption case, in collaboration with the forces against organized crime of the operation known as ‘Money Flight’, which was revealed in 2018 and which involves officials of the Venezuelan State and foreigners. This action would be the largest anti-money laundering action in Florida.
According to the findings of the US authorities, since 2018 Venezuelan officials have associated with foreign bankers and operators to use the real estate world of Miami, Florida, and sophisticated schemes of false investments to launder the corrupt capital of PDVSA.
Independent investigations report that the cases of corruption involving officials of the Venezuelan State in the last 22 years are those with the highest denomination and frequency in modern history.
An investigation by the Vortex organized crime foundation, together with Transparencia Venezuela, revealed that a “super network” of corruption operates in that nation with at least 9,000 people or companies.
Only one of the 121 cases prosecuted before the courts in countries such as the United States and Europe, the ‘MoneyFlight‘, exceeds 1,200 million dollars. It is estimated that the public resources of Venezuela involved in these criminal files investigated or brought to court exceed 67,000 million dollars.
The Venezuelan government has publicly admitted the existence of acts of corruption and inefficiency in the management of public matters in recent years, but has guaranteed that it fights vehemently against these criminal activities.
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