Spain and Switzerland don't need U.S. approval to prosecute Betancourt

The Spanish media reported days ago that Judge Santiago Pedraz has requested access to associates of Alejandro Betancourt that have already pleaded guilty in the U.S. (Operation Money Flight), as part of criminal probes into multibillion dollar money laundering schemes led by the Department of Justice (DOJ). Pedraz needs these key witnesses, allegedly, to be able to demonstrate the illicit origin of the money laundered by Betancourt in Spain, Switzerland and elsewhere. The entire chain of evidence that Pedraz needs to understand the illicit origin of one of the schemes has been and is with Spain's Anti Corruption Prosecution office. Furthermore, the best key witness of all is Nervis Villalobos, who resides in Spain, whose authorities have repeatedly refused to extradite him to the U.S. on ridiculous arguments, such as an imaginary potential violation to his human rights. 

Pedraz has form and this isn't his first rodeo. He issued an international warrant for the arrest of Betancourt, after he escaped the raid of Spanish police to his castle in late August last year, and then he withdrew it. He then tried to dismiss the case against Betancourt, arguing it had already been tried in Venezuela. It wasn't. Now he's fixed a December deadline, for "key witnesses" to be produced by DoJ, or else.

It would take one phone call to Spain's Anti Corruption Prosecutor Jose Grinda and another to UDEF (Spain's Police financial crimes unit) to bring Villalobos and crack the case. But for some reason that only Pedraz knows, only those who have pleaded guilty in America can legally determine in Spain whether or not PDVSA funds laundered by Betancourt are illicit. Pedraz has a problem understanding the relationship between Villalobos and Betancourt. It appears he's focused on a "Consultory and Advisory Services Agreement" between Villalobos and Betancourt's Derwick Associates, dated 14 January 2010, whereby Villalobos undertakes (for fees) to represent Derwick and chase deals with Venezuelan institutions. That was the agreement that underpinned Derwick's energy procurement deals. Contractually, the agreement gets renewed automatically every year, unless parties communicate otherwise in writing. The same contract formed the basis of Villalobos "loan" pitch to Rafael Ramirez in 2012, whereby PDVSA agreed to pay Betancourt & co $4.8 billion at the preferential rate of exchange. The $4.8 billion money laundering scheme is a separate exhibit, not involving Derwick but Betancourt, partners Francisco Convit, Pedro Trebbau, Luis Oberto Anselmi, etc. Pedraz appears incapable of grasping the simple fact that Betancourt has done more than one corrupt deal in Venezuela.

This site's mission is to educate readers about Venezuela's corruption, and with that in mind see Betancourt's better known corrupt deals:

1. Derwick Associates. With relatives Pedro Trebbau and Francisco Convit, school friends and thanks to Villalobos's commission-based agreement, Betancourt sells dilapidated power generators to CORPOELEC and BARIVEN in 2010-2011. Missouri-based ProEnergy Services sourced generators in scrap yards across the world and organised all the logistics, delivery, and administrative aspects, including invoicing. Overcharges left Betancourt & co with over $1 billion. 
    
2. Derwick Oil & Gas. Betancourt and Francisco Convit formed a partnership (Gazprombank Latin Amerika Ventures) with Boris Ivanov (former Gazprom executive) in 2012. PDVSA's CEO (Rafael Ramirez) announced a joint venture between Gazprom and PDVSA (Petrozamora), which in reality was a JV between Gazprombank Latin Amerika Ventures and Corporación Venezolana de Petróleo. Betancourt and Ivanov were shook down by Ramirez for a "bonus". Nikolay Patrushev's trusted collaborator (Vladimir Anisimov) oversees operations. In 2014, former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic (Hans Hertell) offered Morgan Stanly energy trading desk 75,000 barrels of crude oil, which he claimed were produced daily by Betancourt's Petrozamora. Unlike all other JVs operating in Venezuela at the time, Petrozamora was the only one that could take to market its production, instead of giving it to PDVSA's trading dept.
    
3. Atlantic "loan" to PDVSA. In 2012, a shell company called Atlantic and represented by Villalobos approached Ramirez with a proposal: devalued local currency (Bolívares) will be "loaned" to PDVSA, which will pay back in USD at the preferential rate of exchange. About $4.85 billion got wired from PDVSA accounts to special-purpose shells (Violet Advisors and Welka) controlled by brothers Luis and Ignacio Oberto Anselmi. Betancourt, Convit, Trebbau, Villalobos and Ramirez get hundreds of millions worth of "commissions".
    
4. Operation Money Flight. In 2014 Betancourt, Convit, Raul Gorrin and others repeat the Atlantic "loan" scheme, this time for $1.2 billion. DoJ indicts and charges Convit, Gorrin, bankers Matthias Krull and Pedro Binaggia, and many others. 
    
5. NABEP. A Barbados shell incorporated in 2024 gets from Nicolas Maduro & Delcy Rodriguez rights to operate Petrozamora, Petrocedeño (previously Total / Equinor / PDVSA JV) and Junin Sur. Betancourt is presented in the media as someone who "increased production from 12,000 to 200,000 barrels per day", without accounting for the addition of Petrocedeño and Junin, and without presenting verifiable and independently screened output figures.

Just the five schemes mentioned turned Betancourt into a billionaire. With stolen funds he went on an international diversification spree that includes retail, banking, oil trading, co-work rental space, ride-shares, logistics, lobbying and White House / Pentagon partner.

Considering money flows, Switzerland should have it easy to formally indict and charge Betancourt (Swiss banker in his own right), but they seem to be sharing Pedraz's paralysis, despite Zurich's Police and Prosecutors having received on 12 September 2020 the exact same actionable intelligence that Grinda and UDEF have. The delivery of the said information to Zurich's Police and Prosecutors was facilitated by HSI and ICE, which have also been sitting on the file and have done nothing with it.

Trump announced his deal with Betancourt on August 28 2026. How can any of the authorities mentioned justify their lack of action?