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Luis Fernando Vuteff, son-in-law of Venezuelan far-right politician Antonio Ledezma, after being deported from Spain under the custody of US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents at the Miami International Airport on August 2022. Photo: Homeland Security Investigations/File photo.
Luis Fernando Vuteff, a businessman and the son-in-law of the fugitive from Venezuelan courts and far-right Venezuelan politician Antonio Ledezma, has pleaded guilty to diversion of funds in the United States. Vuteff was charged with embezzling approximately US $600 million from Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA, Venezuela’s publicly owned petroleum company) using bank accounts in the US.
According to a document from the Court of the Southern District of Florida published by journalist Joshua Goodman, Vuteff received at least US $3.7 million in commissions as part of the scheme to pay bribes.
The document states the following: “The United States of America and Luis Fernando Vuteff (the “defendant”) stipulate and agree that the information contained herein is true and accurate and sufficient basis for the defendant’s to plead of guilty to the money laundering conspiracy in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(h) charged in the Superseding Information and the forfeiture of the assets identified in the Plea Agreement.”
Son in law of ex Caracas opposition mayor Ledezma pleads guilty to U.S. charges for role in scheme to siphon $600 million from PdVSA.
Fernando Vuteff’s take from fees charged by European banks used to pay bribes: at least $3.7 million. pic.twitter.com/trdVMSTYuS
— Joshua Goodman (@APjoshgoodman) May 15, 2024
If the matter had gone to trial, notes the written agreement, “the defendant stipulates and agrees that the Government would have proven the facts alleged below beyond a reasonable doubt.”
According to media reports, between 2006 and 2018, Vuteff worked with a Swiss banker to recruit South American clients to open offshore accounts in European banks, manipulating the Venezuelan exchange rate system in a corruption plot referred to as “The Money Flight” case by the media.
US authorities received Luis Fernando Vuteff on August 18, 2022, after he was extradited from Switzerland, where he had been arrested for his participation in a scheme initially set up to process part of US $600 million extracted from PDVSA. Vuteff’s employer, Ralph Steinmann, a Swiss citizen who operated a European financial institution, was also involved.
Through this operation, Antonio Ledezma’s son-in-law and Vuteff’s partner Steinmann recruited clients in South America to “invest” these people’s funds in offshore accounts in Europe.
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Among the items of evidence that the US Court presented in the case were emails sent by Vuteff with instructions to transfer part of the illicit funds to purchase a luxurious apartment in Miami in January 2017.
In 2018, Vuteff was arrested in Switzerland as part of another investigation for money laundering, which led to the confiscation of 115 properties in the European country.
Last year, the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela (TSJ) declared a request for the extradition of Antonio Ledezma from Spain admissible; however, the procedure has not been carried out, given that this European country offers protection to fugitives from the Venezuelan legal system, as is the case with Leopoldo López.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
