PDVSA – Financial Treason & Crime

Keith Larsen, 24 March 2021

A Swiss banker’s sentence was cut for his role in an alleged $1 billion international money laundering scheme that illegally funneled money into South Florida real estate.

Matthias Krull was a key figure in a sophisticated scheme in which Venezuelan officials and wealthy elite siphoned money out of the country’s state oil company, PDVSA, and into assets in Europe and the United States, according to federal prosecutors. Some of the money allegedly went to buy luxury properties in Wellington, Coral Gables’ Cocoplum neighborhood and in Sunny Isles Beach, including at the condominium Porsche Design Tower. Continue reading “Article: Swiss banker’s sentence slashed in alleged $1B Venezuelan money laundering scheme”

03/10/202104/23/2021

Article: US Can’t Seize $330M Allegedly Tied To 1MDB Fraud Scheme

Article - Media, Publications

US Can’t Seize $330M Allegedly Tied To 1MDB Fraud Scheme

Caroline Simson, 10 March 2021

U.S. prosecutors came up short in their bid to seize some $330 million in assets held in escrow by Clyde & Co. that are allegedly connected to embezzled 1Malaysia Development Berhad funds when a California judge ruled that the government had not sufficiently shown how the money was tied to the alleged scheme.

U.S. District Judge Dale S. Fischer concluded on Tuesday that the government’s amended complaint filed last fall failed to show how the money — which an arbitral tribunal determined is owed to a PetroSaudi unit for drilling services provided to Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela SA — was traceable to the fraud against 1MDB. Nor had the government proven that the funds were involved in a money laundering transaction, the judge found. Continue reading “Article: US Can’t Seize $330M Allegedly Tied To 1MDB Fraud Scheme”

03/05/202104/17/2021

Article: Venezuela Oil Co. On The Hook For $40M Bond

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Venezuela Oil Co. On The Hook For $40M Bond

Emma Whitford, 05 March 2021

A New York judge has ordered Venezuela’s national oil company to repay about $40 million it owed to a Portuguese pipeline company on a defaulted bond, saying the oil giant failed to prove that it was impossible to repay the debt due to U.S. sanctions.

Petróleos de Venezuela SA and its subsidiary did not manage to turn up documents from Portuguese banks showing that the banks had declined to honor attempted wire transfers from PDVSA to Cimontubo-Tubagens E Soldadura LDA of Portugal, U.S. District Judge George B. Daniels wrote. Continue reading “Article: Venezuela Oil Co. On The Hook For $40M Bond”