Amid one of the worst corruption cases in the history of the Venezuelan state oil company, football emerged as an activity that moved millions of resources derived from the embezzlement of Pdvsa.
Jaime Garvett | Primer Informe
Operators, financiers, and politicians linked to the corruption of the Venezuelan state-owned oil company Pdvsa moved millions through the acquisition and management of football teams and academies both within and outside Venezuela. This was one of the favorite activities of former Chavista leader Tareck El Aissami, who has been accused of coordinating the corruption network that siphoned off tens of billions through the illegal sale of Venezuelan crude oil and cryptocurrency dealings, among other illicit businesses.
The corruption operators controlled several football teams in Venezuela, with the support of the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF), an organization affiliated with FIFA. Part of the embezzled funds may have been used to acquire football teams in Europe, a common path used by criminal organizations for money laundering.
One of El Aissami’s protégés and operators, Deputy Hugbel Roa, managed a network of officials and front men who shared a “passion” for football-related businesses.
Hugbel Roa
Roa, arrested last March for his involvement in the Pdvsa corruption scheme, has been the president of the Trujillanos team since 2008, while his front man, businessman Alejandro Arroyo, who is currently detained for his role in the scandal, owns another football team, Mineros de Guayana.
The business was so lucrative that Arroyo maintained offices in a luxury business district in London (St. James Square), under the suggestive name of Kronos Commodities LTD, where it is presumed he managed the business affairs of Rosa and El Aissami. Additionally, he owned a multimillion-dollar mansion in the Country Club of Caracas, which was confiscated.
Alejandro Arroyo
Another businessman, Jorge Silva, presides over another well-known team, Deportivo Táchira. Although Silva is not yet linked to the recent Pdvsa corruption scandal, he is closely associated with Delcy Rodríguez, who currently controls Pdvsa following the dramatic fall of Tareck El Aissami.
Another protégé of El Aissami and Roa is leader and former player Laydecker Navas, who managed their football operations in the states of Portuguesa and Anzoátegui, including dozens of children’s football academies. Navas has been accused of improperly appropriating funds from the Minor Football Association and illegally charging fees to families of child prospects entering the academies controlled by the network.
Laydecker Navas
Another prominent figure in the Venezuelan regime, Minister and former Governor Wilmar Castro Soteldo, also linked to the massive oil corruption scheme, controlled another well-known team: the Portuguesa Fútbol Club, in the state where he was once governor.
Castro Soteldo has been accused of leading a fraud network together with Pdvsa’s Vice President of Trade and Supply, former Colonel José Antonio Pérez Suárez, who is currently imprisoned. They allegedly offered Venezuelan agricultural entrepreneurs payments in food with quotas of oil that were never delivered, diverting them to a group of international operators, including the Italian Erik Roveta, to keep the proceeds from these oil sales.
Wilmar Castro Soteldo
Castro Soteldo’s involvement in Venezuelan football businesses reached the point that when he was governor of Portuguesa, he offered to build a hotel specifically to accommodate football players from the region and visitors.
Bazzoni and Calcio
One of Tareck El Aissami’s international protégés, Italian businessman Alessandro Bazzoni, entered the most expensive business of Italian football in 2021 after a hefty investment, according to sources close to the businessman considered by the United States as the “successor” of Álex Saab.
Bazzoni’s brother, Lorenzo, appears as an executive of the second-division football club Spal, founded over a century ago in the Italian town of Ferrara by Salesian priests.
The Spal Club was recently purchased in 2021 by a group of investors represented by the American Joe Tacopina, personal lawyer of former President Donald Trump, for an undisclosed amount.
Alessandro Bazzoni
Ironically, Alessandro Bazzoni was included in the OFAC sanctions list on the last day of Donald Trump’s administration (January 19, 2021), whom Tacopina currently represents.
According to a report by Primer Informe, in the negotiations to acquire Spal Club, Tacopina controlled 49% of the shares through Tacopina Italian Football Investment SRL. Shortly after acquiring SPAL, Tacopina told Forbes that he planned to inject between $13 and $14 million into the club. However, the investment doubled. In a recent article published on the SPAL Club’s website, he stated he has already invested a total of 25 million euros.
Primer Informe could not confirm whether the multimillion-dollar investment to expand the SPAL Club was made partially with funds from Pdvsa’s corruption.
Although Tacopina has not publicly announced Alessandro Bazzoni’s equity stake, in an interview with the Italian portal estense.com, he admitted that a “top secret” Italian family had contributed funds for the purchase operation of Spal Club. The mysterious family, which is suspected to be Alessandro Bazzoni and his wife Siri Evjemo-Mysveem, is curiously represented by Lorenzo Bazzoni, described as an “Accountant” and “merchant,” “based in Milan.”
Football for Money Laundering
The acquisition of football teams has historically been a common mechanism for money laundering operations, through administration, player purchases, and handling cash at ticket offices and stores during matches. In Venezuela, this is augmented by the collection of illegal fees from fans and players.
An emblematic case of money laundering has been the Chelsea Club, acquired by Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, sanctioned last year by the UK for his connection to Vladimir Putin’s corruption.
Both Tareck El Aissami and Hugbel Roa and Alessandro Bazzoni are under investigation for their involvement in the complex scheme of corruption that has so far caused estimated losses of over $21 billion.
While El Aissami and Roa are in custody in Venezuela, the Venezuelan Attorney General issued an arrest warrant against the Italian Bazzoni.
According to sources speaking to Primer Informe, the corruption scheme surrounding Pdvsa involving Tareck El Aissami, which implicated businessman Alessandro Bazzoni – two figures explicitly sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury – is currently under the scrutiny of the Southern District of Florida, based in Miami.
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