corruption

In the course of law enforcement work, U.S. Federal Agencies would seek information and meet with about anybody, if it potentially advances their agendas. Take Alex Saab, for many years Nicolas Maduro's favourite proxy and someone who went from bankruptcy to multi billionaire status much faster than Elon Musk. Saab was on the DEA's radar for a long time. Saab's partner in every last corrupt deal in Venezuela was a former head of Bogota's drug cartel.

The world's foremost anti corruption campaigner, Alex Navalny, wrote an article from prison recently that was published by The Guardian. In it, Navalny calls for a number of measures to be implemented, in the western world, so that  thugs like the ones ruling his country and mine can be stopped. I have news for Navalny: that call is as likely to happen as Putin or Maduro relinquishing power because their opposition is asking.

Further to recent leaks about Gonet, this site got information about a compliance meeting, chaired by "Chairman of Due Diligence Committee, CEO Jean Marc Fellay", during which two Gonet accounts were shut due to "PEP Relations": Solare Investors Corp. and one whose UBO is described as "Corrina Zu Sayn-Wittgenstein" (sic).

Compliance and KYC documents seen by this site show that Pictet opened three bank accounts (128588, 128589, 128590) for Adrian Velasquez and Carlos Gill in early December 2013. Isaac Topel was in charge of account openings on intros made by Alberto Valenzuela and Jose Antonio Gago. Accounts ending 88, 89 were for a credit card and a company belonging to Velasquez in Nevis. Account 128590 was for Gill.

[UPDATED* PLEASE READ BELOW] On 3 January, Deacon Jorge Sonnante got in touch via DM. He sent me a link to a post about Pope Francis' alleged corruption, with a note asking whether I could help in making it viral. As a Venezuelan, I am naturally predisposed against authoritarianism, and in that regard Pope Francis is most certainly no John Paul II.

OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro described best the actions of Spain's former Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero vis-a-vis Venezuela, when he said recently that Zapatero was "an imbecile". Almagro said that someone who needs seven clarifications to understand something must be an imbecile. Almagro does not know, though assumes as everyone else, that Zapatero is an apologist for Nicolas Maduro's regime, working hard towards keeping Maduro's criminal organization in power.

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Rafael Ramirez, former concurrent Energy Minister and CEO of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), basically managed Venezuela's income between 2004-2014. While at the helm of PDVSA, over $1.2 trillion got past his hands. Ramirez is even on the record, admitting that he oversaw transfers between PDVSA and the Venezuelan State worth some $480 billion.

Any journalist, blogger, commentator that has ever been victimised by very powerful thugs and their detestable counsel ought to be following -with great interest- various class actions brought against Catherine Belton in London. The issue at hand is Belton's book, Putin's People, which gives a detailed account of how a bunch of thugs looted Russia -thanks to thug-in-chief Putin and his KGB, becoming oligarchs in the process.

When it comes to Venezuela's corruption, this site has become a reference. Nowadays, we see banks (compliance departments), insurance companies, law enforcement, law firms, and international media playing catch up, devouring some of the stuff posted here over the years. It is quite unfortunate -and unethical- that stories first published here end up as exclusives, without attribution, in traditional media.