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Ring plundered $1.2 billion of Venezuelan oil money, laundered it in South Florida,
“Venezuela’s state of social, political and economic crisis, in which multibillion-dollar corrupt and criminal ecosystems thrive, drives rivers of criminal proceeds through South Florida,” says a Homeland Security Investigations affidavit filed with the complaint in Miami federal court. “[It] has become an international money-laundering hub and a desirable destination for well-to-do foreign criminals and kleptocrats.”
...The alleged money-laundering conspiracy began in December 2014 with a currency-exchange scheme to embezzle $600 million from PDVSA obtained through bribes and fraud, the complaint says. The defendants used an associate, who would later become a confidential source for the feds, to launder a portion of the PDVSA funds. By May of 2015, the conspiracy had doubled to $1.2 billion embezzled from Venezuela’s national oil company....
“Two years and over one hundred recordings later, Operation Money Flight revealed an international conspiracy to launder the PDVSA funds through Miami and several large-scale international money-laundering organizations,” the complaint says. “More specifically, the investigation revealed the use of Miami real estate and sophisticated false-investment schemes to launder hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.”
...The investigation, led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami, stands out among the several federal criminal cases brought against former Venezuelan officials in recent years because Andrade was one of the most trusted members in Chávez’s inner circle. The socialist leader died in 2013.
...The alleged money-laundering conspiracy began in December 2014 with a currency-exchange scheme to embezzle $600 million from PDVSA obtained through bribes and fraud, the complaint says. The defendants used an associate, who would later become a confidential source for the feds, to launder a portion of the PDVSA funds. By May of 2015, the conspiracy had doubled to $1.2 billion embezzled from Venezuela’s national oil company....
“Two years and over one hundred recordings later, Operation Money Flight revealed an international conspiracy to launder the PDVSA funds through Miami and several large-scale international money-laundering organizations,” the complaint says. “More specifically, the investigation revealed the use of Miami real estate and sophisticated false-investment schemes to launder hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.”
...The investigation, led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami, stands out among the several federal criminal cases brought against former Venezuelan officials in recent years because Andrade was one of the most trusted members in Chávez’s inner circle. The socialist leader died in 2013.
https://www.miamiherald.com/latest-news/article215493015.html