Message to INFODIO readers: investigative journalism, which is what this site does, takes lots of time. Visiting media looking for a quick run down on Venezuela's gargantuan corruption, have the decency to at least cite the source when plagiarising this site's content without attribution (exhibit Reuters here and here, exhibit Bloomberg here, exhibit OCCRP here). To all readers, do the right thing, the honest thing: support independent investigative journalism, help us expose rampant corruption. Note added 28/06/2021: impostors are using INFODIO's former editor's full name, and a fake email address (alek.boyd.arregui at gmail.com) to send copyright infringement claims / take down requests to web hosting companies (exhibit Hostgator). The attempt is yet another effort paid by corrupt thugs to erase information about their criminal activities. Infodio.com has no issues with other websites / journalists using / posting information published here, so long as the source is properly cited.
David Boies is a household name in American legal circles. He's defended the rich, the famous, the disgraced, the thugs, and everything in between. Boies' adventures in Venezuela, were it not for a long series of exposés in this website, are mostly unknown.
This week saw publication of in-depth reports (here, here and here) about Dan Gertler, a Treasury-santioned Israeli thug that became the go-to guy for all mining deals in
Jose Ignacio Hernandez, the heavily conflicted "Procurador" of Juan Guaido, resigned yesterday. Hernandez's resignation letter is a study in dishonesty. No mention was made about work done for Crystallex and in case of PDVSA US Litigation Trust against Helsinge, Trafigura, Glencore et al. Hernandez should have never been appointed to that position, should have never been given access to critical information which will, very likely, end up with Hernandez's past clients.
PDVSA US Litigation Trust, the farce brought by thug David Boies against Francisco Morillo, Helsinge, Trafigura, Vitol, Glencore et al was dismissed by Judge Darrin Gayles last Friday, for "lack of subject matter jurisdiction." The good thing is that Boies and his merry band of co-conspirators won't be able to steal 66% of whatever proceeds would've been obtained through that civil action in Florida.
Helsinge Inc, a little venture controlled by Francisco Morillo, Leonardo Baquero and Daniel Lutz that managed to win almost every single PDVSA bid in which it participated, stands accused of having defrauded billions of dollars from PDVSA. It did so for many years, through a remarkably simple method: it gained real time access to PDVSA's bidding system, which allowed itself and its partners (Glencore, Trafigura, Vitol, Lukoil, etc.) to place winning bids at the very last minute.
Picture the following: in recent visit to Washington, I proposed to Pedro Burelli -for many years esteemed friend- that, given that Juan Guaidó's interim administration was looking to recoup lost funds to help with Venezuela's reconstruction, legal counsel of PDVSA in Geneva lawsuit against Helsinge, Trafigura, Glencore, Lukoil, Vitol et al ought to be replaced. Reason is simple: current one (Canonica) came to it thanks to Wilmer Ruperti.
So on Tuesday this week, sources reported that a Geneva court issued a ruling against Francisco Morillo and Helsinge, in a fraud case brought by PDVSA. Geneva's prosecutors launched a penal probe upon information on a large fraud scheme perpetrated by Morillo and Helsinge, in which some of the largest energy trading houses of Switzerland are involved.
I was going to write a bit about David Boies' latest attempt to keep PDVSA US Litigation Trust civil case alive in Florida. But a Twitter thread will do the trick just fine. Boies has more pressing issues, dealing with DoJ for one, which might explain his idiotic arguments.
Global Witness, self styled protector of "human rights and the environment by fearlessly confronting corruption and challenging the systems that enable it", is silent on PDVSA. As in absolutely silent. A search for PDVSA in Global Witness site returns one (1) result. Since 1993, which is when Global Witness claims to have started, nothing has been done regarding PDVSA's corruption, one that can very easily engulf all other corruption campaigns Global Witness has ever done put together.
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