The couple’s trial was seen as a crucial test of the federal prosecution’s ability to hold Venezuela’s so-called kleptocrats to account for fleecing the oil nation.
The former nurse to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was found guilty Tuesday of money laundering in connection with bribing a media mogul to approve lucrative currency transactions while serving as director of the National Treasury Office. .
A South Florida jury deliberated just a few hours before convicting Claudia Díaz and her husband, Adrián Velásquez, of five of the six charges detailed in the indictment that accuse them of accepting bribes of at least $4.2 million. Dollars.
The couple’s trial was seen as a crucial test of the federal prosecution’s ability to hold Venezuela’s so-called kleptocrats to account for fleecing the oil nation.
According to the indictment, the couple received payments from companies controlled by Raúl Gorrín — a media mogul who is currently on the run — into accounts in Miami that were allegedly used to finance the couple’s luxurious life.
The government’s case rested largely on the testimony of one of Díaz’s predecessors in the Treasury Office: Alejandro Andrade, who testified from the witness stand that Díaz continued with the financial agreement that he had originally made with Gorrín.
Like Díaz, Andrade, a former presidential security agent, capitalized on his personal relationship with Chávez to rise in the Venezuelan military and politics, amassing an enormous fortune almost overnight.
He was released from prison in 2021 following serving less than half of a 10-year sentence for his part in a scheme to funnel millions of dollars from state coffers.
As part of his plea bargain, he forfeited more than $260 million in cash and assets, including a Palm Beach oceanfront mansion, luxury vehicles, show horses and several Rolex and Hublot watches.
The trial came as usually hostile relations between the United States and Venezuela begin to thaw following a period of “maximum pressure” during the Trump administration to oust President Nicolás Maduro.
Most recently, the administration of President Joe Biden eased oil sanctions once morest the South American Opec nation, allowing the US oil company Chevron to resume production in Venezuela following more than three years to support nascent negotiations between the government and the opposition.
But ongoing criminal investigations once morest members of the Venezuelan government remain under a microscope in South Florida, home to millions of Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans who fled leftist governments in their home countries.
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