Iván Simonovis (left) and Carlos Vecchio (right), Guaidó associates implicated in the PDVSA-Crypto corruption plot. Photo: Linkedin/Yale University website.
The president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, stated that there was a larger conspiracy network led by Guaidó-aligned members of the Venezuelan ultra-right, namely Iván Simonovis and Carlos Vecchio, which was closely linked to the PDVSA-Crypto corruption plot.
“There was a large network of corruption and all that is going to be known,” President Maduro said, referring to the PDVSA-Crypto scheme. “We will find out how much money they gave to [Leopoldo] López, [Carlos] Ocariz, Vecchio and others. They corrupt people, stole here and then gave them money, in addition to what they stole with Guaidó. This is a scandal.”
He added that the Simonovis – Vecchio duo conspired to destroy “from within” the economic recovery plan that started giving positive results from 2021-2022, through great effort and despite the 900 plus sanctions imposed by the US and its allies on Venezuela.
Dressed up for extortion
Simonovis and Vecchio took advantage of Juan Guaidó’s self-proclamation as president in 2019 and the illegal formation of duplicate state entities and embassies. Guaidó made Vecchio the Venezuelan “ambassador” to the US (2019-2022) although the constitutional government of Venezuela, led by President Maduro, broke relations with the US in January 2019.
In turn, in July 2019, Guaidó’s “ambassador” Carlos Vecchio appointed Iván Simonovis as special commissioner for Security and Intelligence of the Venezuelan Embassy. Using these fictitious positions, they created a system of extortion, targeting people who were in some way connected to the Venezuelan oil industry.
According to the revelations made by the victims of this extortion, members of this extortionist gang dressed up in suits, visited the businesspeople who were registered with the CITGO Refineries, and presented them with two modalities:
- If the company had a debt with PDVSA, it was advised to sue the PDVSA for the debt repayment in Texas. The Simonovis-Vecchio gang assured such companies that they would agree during the lawsuits to repay the debt as well as pay the legal fees, but they demanded a share of 20% of the proceeds of the lawsuit.
- The second way of extortion consisted in pressuring the businesses to hire a specific lawyer to opt for the OFAC license, which had a cost of $3 million, arguing that the gang would guarantee that said businesses received the license.
PDVSA-Crypto Corruption Plot Was Characterized by Coup and Assassination Attempts
Other pressure strategies
Additionally, lawyers sent by Carlos Vecchio harassed the business owners by telling them that they were investigating all the companies that did business with PDVSA. They threatened business owners with imprisonment “unless they contacted a lawyer named Díaz.” This Díaz would charge them $1 million “to solve the problem” and to get them the OFAC license, which these businesses needed as they worked with the US oil multinational Chevron.
On the other hand, Iván Simonovis’ strategy was based on intimidating and trying to stifle those companies that wanted to invest in Venezuela or that were working with Venezuelan companies. His swindlers visited the owners of such companies and pressured them by conditioning the fake Guaidó government’s support for their investments, applying a technique of psychoterror that is sponsored by US agencies such as the FBI.
While Guaidó and his swindling entourage, led by Simonovis and Vecchio went around several countries with the backing of the US government, asking for sanctions and blockade against Venezuela, the people of Venezuela bore the brunt of the crisis. The blockade provided the far-right opposition the conditions for a highly lucrative business.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/AF
