The British justice is conducting an investigation into several polo players from the UK, Argentina, and Uruguay, who are suspected of being involved in a money laundering scheme linked to corruption in the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. The scheme is allegedly led by the fugitives from Venezuelan justice, Alessandro Bazzoni and Siri Evjemo-Nysveen.
According to a report by Vents Magazine, Italian Alessandro Bazzoni, a renowned crude oil transport provider, allegedly diverted over $3 billion from PDVSA through his companies Elemento LTD, Elemento Oil, AMG S.A.S. and United Petróleo Corp. To hide and transfer these funds in Europe, Bazzoni allegedly used his wife, Norwegian banker Siri Evjemo-Nysveen, who utilized a network of intermediaries involving recognized British polo players.
Siri Evjemo-Nysveen, exploiting her position as Vice President at the Swiss bank MBaer Merchant Bank, allegedly used her own companies, CGC One Planet and Clareville Grove Capital, to move these funds. The scheme included the collaboration of British influencer and polo player Inez Bethell and Spanish trainer Severo Jesús Jurado López, who allegedly facilitated the simulation of the purchase of numerous high-value horses registered under the names of recognized polo players.
Siri Evjemo-Nysveen and her partner Inez Bethell
The information adds that, in recent weeks, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the UK have intensified the investigation, questioning British, Uruguayan, and Argentine polo players and requesting documentation on the acquisition of horses they own to determine their connection to the money laundering scheme led by the Evjemo-Nysveen and Bazzoni couple.
Among those questioned or summoned for questioning are:
Alejandro Pistone
Angela Moran
Antonio Heguy
Benjamin Urquiza
Charlotte Pykett
Christopher “Cris” MacKenzie
David “Pelón” Stirling
Diego Tomás Cavanagh
Emma Boers
Emma Claire Wood
Emma-Lou Becca
Facundo Sola
Guillermo Terrera
Guillermo “Sapo” Caset
Hazel Jackson
Ignacio Novillo Astrada
Ignacio “Cubi” Toccalino
James Beim
James Crossley
John Paul Clarkin
Juan Martín Nero
Juan Martín Zubía
Kayley Maria Smith
Lia Salvo
Lottie Lamacraft
Lucas “Luquitas” Criado jr
Mackenzie Weisz
Mark Tomlinson
Matías González
Matt Perry
Rosanna Turk
Rosendo Torreguitar
Ross Ainsley
Saad Audeh
Sam Browne
Sebastián Merlos
Tamara Fox
Mid-oxidized, Siri Evjemo-Nysveen and Inez Bethell alongside several of the polo players required by the authorities
Mostly, it involves polo players who, after competing in tournaments with teams such as the Monterosso Polo Team or MT Vikings, belonging to Bazzoni and Evjemo-Nysveen, obtained the ownership of the horses they played with, without having paid for them. Subsequently, these horses were sold to other companies or individuals, and the profits were transferred to accounts at CGC One Planet and Clareville Grove Capital.
Some of these carriages, most of which resided at the Cowdray Park Polo Club in Midhurst, UK, have been seized by the authorities as the investigation advances.
Siri Evjemo-Nysveen and Alessandro Bazzoni were included in 2021 on the list of sanctions by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for their commercial relationships with the Venezuelan government.