The Prosecutor’s Office requested sentences of no less than 23 years and 5 months in prison for the former national treasurer of Venezuela Claudia Patricia Diaz Guillenand not less than 19 years and 5 months for her husband, Adrian Jose Velasquez Figueroafound guilty of money laundering in the US
(Read also: What did Foreign Minister Álvaro Leyva and Nicolás Maduro talk about in Caracas?)
This is indicated by the latest judicial document in the case of the two Venezuelan citizens, who were extradited to the US from Spain in 2022 and tried that same year in the courts of Fort Lauderdale (South Florida) and will receive their sentences this Wednesday April 19 if there is no other new postponement.
In the document signed, among others, by Glenn S. Leon Markenzy Lapointe, head of the fraud section of the US Attorney General’s Office, the reasons why, in their opinion, Díaz Guillén and Velásquez Figueroa they should be punished with a severe sentence by Judge William P. Dimitrouleas.
“The nature and circumstances of his involvement in a massive laundering and bribery scheme involving over $1 billion in bonds and over $100 million in bribery payments warrant a significant sentence,” the 23-page document reads. .
The Prosecutor’s Office says that no less than 283 months in jail for her and no less than 235 months for him “would be enough and no more than necessary” given the seriousness of the crimes committed. To this would be added the confiscation of his properties and fines.
Díaz Guillén and Velásquez Figueroa were trusted people of Hugo Chávez – they are known as the “nurse” and the “bodyguard” of the president of Venezuela who died in 2013- and settled in Spain in 2016, they allege, because they were persecuted by the current Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro.
Both have dual Venezuelan-Spanish nationality. The Prosecutor’s Office estimates that they obtained at least 136 million profits as a result of their participation in the corruption plan based on the exchange control system of Venezuela.
Corruption in Venezuela
last December 13 the trial jury found Díaz Guillén guilty of two of the three charges against him and Velásquez Figueroa guilty of three counts.
Lawyers for the couple tried unsuccessfully to get Judge Dimitrouleas to accept the argument that the US government lacked “extraterritorial jurisdiction” in this case.
(Read also: Venezuela: the works that have “disappeared” 300,000 million dollars)
She was part of Chávez’s health team before being named treasurer national, a position he held from 2011 to 2013, and he was the head of security for the person who was head of state of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013.
The Venezuelan businessman Raúl Gorrín Belisario, owner and president of the Venezuelan channel Globovisión, is wanted by the US Justice in relation to the same facts.
According to his file, Gorrín was charged on August 16, 2017 in the Southern District of Florida with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), another of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and nine more of money laundering.
The indictment alleges that Gorrín Belisario paid millions of dollars in bribes to two high-ranking Venezuelan officials – Díaz Guillén and Alejandro Andrade Cedeño, who was also national treasurer – to obtain the rights to carry out foreign exchange transactions at favorable rates.
(You may be interested: It’s not just Pdvsa: these are the accusations against Álvaro Pulido, a Saab partner)
In addition to making money transfers to the officials, Gorrín Belisario allegedly paid them expenses related to private jets, yachts, residences, championship horses, luxury watches, and a fashion line.
Andrade Cedenowho took up residence in the US after Chávez’s death, pleaded guilty and fHe was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018as part of an agreement that included the forfeiture of 1,000 million dollars and the confiscation of all assets involved in the corruption scheme.
To conceal the bribes, Gorrín Belisario made payments through multiple shell companies and allegedly partnered with others to acquire Banco Peravia, in the Dominican Republic, in order to launder the bribes paid to Venezuelan officials and the proceeds of the scheme.
By asking for harsh sentences for the marriage, the Prosecution emphasizes that they have tried to “ignore, minimize and divert attention” from what they did and demonstrated “a lack of remorse for the crimes they committed and the damage caused as a result of their greed and abuse of power”.
EFE
More news in EL TIEMPO
Ferrari, shops and opulence: this is how luxury returned to the streets of Caracas
New arrests for PDVSA embezzlement close the circle of El Aissami
#sentence #demands #justice #extreasurer #Hugo #Chávez