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In late March, a Spanish Prosecutor that had issued an international arrest warrant for Alejandro Betancourt in September last year decided that no further actions would be taken and dismissed the case. On the argument that Betancourt’s involvement in a $4.85 billion embezzlement and money laundering scheme had already been tried in Venezuela (it wasn’t), Prosecutor Pedraz inexplicably saw fit to bring the whole thing to and end. Spain’s Anticorruption Attorney’s Office appealed the decision. More recently, the revelation that Betancourt’s associate Nervis Villalobos’ attempted to bribe Anticorruption Attorney José Grinda could have forced Spain's High Court to order the case to be reopened.
The sudden volte face has been caused by the scandal surrounding former Prime Minister of Spain Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Active investigations into Rodriguez Zapatero’s connection to the chavista regime in Venezuela are exposing a vast criminal enterprise in which very close associates of Betancourt are deeply involved in.
Take Nervis Villalobos, the man who first managed to get over $2 billion worth of procurement contracts for Betancourt when he operated under the Derwick Associates umbrella. Back then, Betancourt’s Derwick Associates was meant to solve power blackouts in Venezuela. Now that Delcy Rodriguez’s regime is asking foreign investors to bring their own power plants to Venezuela to kickstart oil production, the billions given to Betancourt kind of come into focus.
But Villalobos marriage of convenience to Betancourt didn’t end with power regeneration projects. Soon after, money laundering schemes modelled on what had already been done at Venezuela’s Treasury by Raul Gorrin and Danilo Diazgranados (both would-be associates of Betancourt), Betancourt had Villalobos pitch two “loan” deals to PDVSA’s CEO Rafael Ramirez: one for $4.85 billion and one for $1.2 billion.
In the former, Betancourt partnered with Villalobos, Ramirez, the Oberto Anselmi brothers, Francisco Convit, Danilo Diazgranados, Charles Henry de Beaumont and a number of Swiss banks and bankers. Bribes for those involved were wired through myriad Swiss bank accounts. Crucially, through Banca Privada D’Andorra, some of the funds destined to Villalobos and Betancourt ended up in Spain.
In the latter, Betancourt’s partner Convit was charged and declared a fugitive in what the U.S. Department of Justice later called Operation Money Flight. Betancourt is co-conspirator number 2 on that scheme. This time round, Ramirez, Gorrin, Derwick’s CFO Orlando Alvarado, Nicolas Maduro and Betancourt’s banker Pedro Binaggia were involved among others.
When President Trump launched the military operation to oust Maduro, Betancourt was enjoying guarantees given during Trump’s first presidency. Somehow, or rather putting ill acquired wealth to work, Betancourt employed the services of Rudy Giuliani, Brian Ballard and other close Trump associates to be seen as a friend of the administration, or as Giuliani put it a “matter of national security."
But then, Maduro’s removal brought a flurry of judicial activity in other countries. Switzerland, of all places, not only placed Betancourt on a list of Venezuelans that includes most of his close associates and partners whose assets are frozen, but double down by issuing an arrest warrant for his second arrest in London, which took place in November last year. Switzerland, freezing assets and issuing arrest warrants for involvement in corruption and money laundering?
Betancourt has always claimed that every last of his business deals are legitimate, but legitimate entrepreneurs don’t get arrested, don’t get their assets frozen in Switzerland, don’t get named or associated to criminal cases in multiple jurisdictions, and most certainly aren’t chased by Swiss law enforcement. Any legitimate businessman from a place like Venezuela would boast about acquiring control of a bank, like Juan Carlos Escotet did when he got hold of Novagalicia (now Abanca). But Betancourt kept his control of Banca Credinvest in Switzerland hidden for many years and it was only revealed after this site got corroboration that he was basically acting as Credinvest’s main shareholder.
Needed to launder billions? What better than getting his own Swiss bank and keep everything hidden? Betancourt and Villalobos are so toxic that not even Switzerland puts up with them. While one fights an extradition case and sees around $800 million frozen, the other had $148 million and property seized and was refused residency (along wife and children) because it would be a "threat to public security and a risk for Switzerland’s reputation”! 😂😂
Betancourt is spread very wide. While it remains to be determined whether he prevails in the extradition from the UK to Switzerland case, he has money and contacts in enough places to continue playing the innocent card. His best shot is to continue relying on the incapacity of law enforcement in the Western Hemisphere to put two and two together in one hand and on the currency and leverage that his many advocates and lobbyists exert in the White House and over U.S. federal agencies on the other. In the meanwhile, his current oil production in Venezuela -through PetroZamora and PetroCedeño- rivals that of Chevron and his connections to Delcy and key Trump’s administration official and unofficial operatives keep him ahead of Treasury, FinCEN or DoJ probes.
In Europe however, Betancourt-related issues are taking a life of their own. The legal reasoning behind Anticorruption Attorneys Office appeal and subsequent decision by Spain’s High Court is that Venezuela never investigated the bribery scheme that prompted Ramirez to have PDVSA give billions of dollars for a “loan” to Atlantic, the shell used for the purpose by the Oberto Anselmi brothers, Betancourt, Convit, Diazgranados & co. There was once some local case that looked into whether the loan itself was legal (there’s nothing illicit per se in a loan), but the probe didn't even touch the bribery aspect, the billions wired to Swiss bank accounts for further distribution among participants. In fact, some of those involved have already pleaded guilty and surrendered some of the ill gotten proceeds in DoJ probes, and in Venezuela chavista authorities are actively seeking to extradite Betancourt’s associates. As previously argued, no authority has looked into and much less cleared Betancourt’s receipt of tens of millions of dollars for this transaction.
Rodriguez Zapatero can yet expose and / or bring down a lot of “legitimate” people. Diazgranados’ veneer is cracking, Villalobos is in deep, Francisco D’Agostino was briefly arrested in Italy and under scrutiny, and Homeland Security is actively participating in many criminal probes that touch Betancourt directly. Over 15 years after first appearing with Derwick Associates, Betancourt is still trying to disentangle himself from chasing law enforcement. Is that how legit businessmen operate?
