Daniel Valero Gutiérrez is a character as mysterious as he is picturesque, presenting himself as a commodities expert, but his resume and company show many gaps and inconsistencies, as well as a trail of lawsuits and accusations against him, in several cases for fraud. His value proposition with CCSCEX is unclear and lacks supporting evidence or verifiable testimonials. His professional background is riddled with incongruities and contradictions that cast doubt on his credibility and seriousness.
What are commodities and why are they important?
Before delving into the details about Daniel Valero Gutiérrez and his company, it is important to explain what commodities are and why they are relevant in the global economy. Commodities are basic goods that are traded on financial markets and possess uniform and interchangeable qualities and characteristics. These products can either be raw materials for the production of other goods or finished products themselves. Some examples of commodities include agricultural products (such as wheat, corn, and coffee), metals (like gold, silver, and copper), energy sources (such as oil and natural gas), and natural products (like wood or cotton).
The trade and prices of commodities affect various industries and the daily lives of individuals, as they influence the costs of food, fuels, construction materials, electronics, and many others. Additionally, commodity markets offer opportunities for investment and hedging against price fluctuations using futures contracts, options, and other financial instruments.
What does CCSCEX do with commodities?
According to the company itself, CCSCEX operates a “comprehensive ecosystem” that includes a “collective collaboration” allowing investors to fund productive projects and startups, along with asset tokenization governed by the “EXCHANGE Token®.” Furthermore, CCSCEX promotes supposed planting plans aimed at financing agricultural producers in Venezuela.
In cryptocurrency terms, a token is a unit of digital value representing specific assets or rights. Tokens are created and operated on a blockchain and can serve different functions depending on the platform in which they are used.
CCSCEX is defined as the “Commodity Exchange of Venezuela” in various publications and social media, although the project is cloaked in opacity regarding its participants, investors, the guarantees it provides to its clients, its operational transparency, and its actual impact on the Venezuelan productive sector.
What research has Daniel Valero Gutiérrez conducted on commodities?
Daniel Valero Gutiérrez, the CEO of CCSCEX, claims to have conducted multiple studies on commodities in Venezuela, particularly in areas like mining and agriculture. However, the full content of these studies is unknown, including the methodologies used, who apart from Valero Gutiérrez participated in these studies, or which institutions and companies sponsored or certified them. The only known information about the research consists of articles with very generic data, published by Valero himself.
Daniel Valero Gutiérrez’s professional profile is filled with incongruities and contradictions. On one hand, he claims to have been nominated for the Anders Gustaf Ekeberg Tantalum Award in 2018 and 2019, a prestigious annual award given for excellence in research and innovation of the tantalum (Ta) element, a rare and strategic metal used in various technological applications. However, his name does not appear among the finalists for the award in those years, nor is there any known record of him holding advanced higher education in fields related to tantalum such as computer science, engineering, materials science, metallurgy, environmental studies, chemistry, physics, nanoscale semiconductor engineering, mechanical engineering, biomedical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, and photonics.
Additionally, Valero mentions a recognition from Gerente magazine in Venezuela, supposedly in 2010, in the 24th-anniversary edition of the magazine, implying it was founded in 1986. However, various sources indicate that Gerente magazine was founded in 1997 by editor Luis Rodan in Caracas, Venezuela. The magazine later moved its headquarters to Bogotá, Colombia, where it began publishing the print edition in Colombia and online versions for several markets including Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, Spain, Mexico, Panama, and the United States.
Valero also claims on his professional profile that his project, Caracas Commodity Exchange (CCSCEX), was a finalist for the European Digital Mindset Awards 2019 in the Marketing Innovation category. This may explain why the name CCSCEX does not appear among the winners that year, as Valero states that CCSCEX was only a finalist.
What is the history of CCSCEX and Daniel Valero Gutiérrez?
The story of CCSCEX and Daniel Valero Gutiérrez is as confusing as his professional profile. Valero Gutiérrez stated in a video in December 2023 that the Caracas Commodity Exchange was a story over 10 years in the making, although he contradicted himself in the same video, claiming that the company was two months away from its 10-year anniversary, which would imply that the company was founded in early 2014.
However, on his LinkedIn profile, Valero Gutiérrez states that he has been the founder and CEO of Caracas Commodity Exchange since 2017.
To make matters even more confusing, Valero stated in an article he authored: “One morning in 2015, around three, I suddenly woke up, overwhelmed by an idea that would become my obsession in the years to come: the need to change the way we do business in the Americas and the vision of founding the Commodity Exchange of Venezuela.” Thus, it is understood that Valero Gutiérrez refers to CCSCEX, as “the Commodity Exchange of Venezuela,” which is how CCSCEX is defined in various publications and social media, as an idea that originated from him in 2015, which in 2023 should have been 8 years old.
The Valero Gutiérrez: Between Law, Business, and Tragedy
In the world of finance and technology in Venezuela, the name Daniel Valero Gutiérrez has stood out in recent years, more as the CEO of Caracas Commodity Exchange (CCSCEX), a trading platform for commodities, cryptocurrencies, and other digital assets, than for his personal and family background. Daniel Valero Gutiérrez has made a name for himself through his conferences, projects, and initiatives on topics such as blockchain, drop shipping, wallets, and other innovations. Some media outlets have presented him as a sort of Venezuelan version of Vitalik Buterin, the famous creator of Ethereum, one of the world’s leading blockchain networks.
However, behind Daniel Valero Gutiérrez lies a little-known family history in Caracas, where he currently resides. Daniel Valero Gutiérrez is the son of Fernando Valero Borrás, a Colombian lawyer who has practiced his profession in Venezuela for decades. Valero Borrás has handled various cases, from civil to labor and commercial, facing companies and individuals in different courts, including the Supreme Court of Justice (TSJ). Among his defendants have been the now-defunct bank CORP BANCA, C.A., the NATIONAL TELEPHONE COMPANY OF VENEZUELA (CANTV), CONSTRUCTORA PEDECA, C.A. (owned by the Petricca family, who own the Universidad Santa María), among others.
Fernando Valero Borrás, father of Fernando and Daniel Valero Gutiérrez
A Tragedy in the Air
Daniel Valero Gutiérrez is also the brother of Fernando Valero Gutiérrez, who tragically died in a skydiving accident in August 2018. Fernando Valero Gutiérrez was the owner and CEO of Vagu Jewelry, the official distributor of Rolex and Tudor watches in Venezuela and Colombia, where relatives of the Valeros still reside. He was an extreme sports enthusiast and regularly practiced at the Sky Dive school in Venezuela, located at the Higuerote airport in Miranda state.
Fernando Valero Gutiérrez
On the day of the accident, Fernando “Chicho” Valero Gutiérrez, as he was also known, jumped from a plane along with two other parachutists, Aníbal Dao and Juan Peraza. Aníbal Dao was the son of the former director of the Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigations Corps (Cicpc), Miguel Dao, and was also involved in modeling. He had won the title of Mister Latino 2011 and was 32 years old. Juan Peraza was another student from the skydiving school.
According to police sources, the parachutes of Fernando Valero Gutiérrez and Aníbal Dao collided mid-air, causing both to fall to the ground unconscious, suffering serious injuries. Juan Peraza was also injured by a different maneuver. All three were taken to the emergency medical services, where the deaths of Fernando Valero Gutiérrez and Aníbal Dao were confirmed. Juan Peraza was transported to Caracas, where he remained in intensive care. Videos circulated on social media showing the parachutists calling for help and ambulances to assist the victims.
A New Family and a “Celestial Mission”
After separating from the mother of brothers Daniel and Fernando Valero Gutiérrez, lawyer Fernando Valero Borrás began a new relationship with a Venezuelan lawyer, with whom he had another family. Valero Borrás has established himself over the past few decades between Lechería, a city in Anzoátegui state in northeastern Venezuela, and Miami, where he co-founded several organizations with his current wife. In 2016, they founded GUIDE FOR HELP, LLC in Florida, and the nonprofit HEAVENLY GUIDE FOR HELP, INC. The following year, they created another nonprofit organization called EMAUS CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY CHURCH, INC., of a religious nature.
The brothers Daniel and Fernando Valero Gutiérrez would have left many friends behind in Lechería, including merchants, artists, professionals, and other prominent figures in that city’s society.
HEAVENLY GUIDE FOR HELP provides paralegal assistance to immigrants needing guidance on immigration procedures to live in the United States. The organization is based on the expertise of Valero Borrás and his wife, who enrolled at CELA International University, a private Christian university in Hialeah that offers validation programs and chaplaincy to individuals who have studied or worked in certain fields for a long time but do not have recognized academic degrees in the United States.
Properties Confiscated in the United States from the Brother of the CEO of CCSCEX for Money Laundering
In August 2018, the U.S. government seized several properties in South Florida as part of an investigation into money laundering stemming from illicit businesses in Venezuela. Some of these properties belonged to corporations linked to Fernando “Chicho” Valero Gutiérrez, the Venezuelan businessman who died in the skydiving accident that same month in his home country and the brother of Daniel Valero Gutiérrez, the CEO of Caracas Commodity Exchange (CCSCEX).
Valero, 42 years old at the time of his death in 2018, was an avid skydiver and often practiced with friends, including the stepsons of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, Yosser Gavidia Flores and Yoswal Gavidia Flores. On the day of his death, Valero jumped from an aircraft at 13,000 feet but collided mid-air with parachutist Aníbal Dao, and both fell unconscious to the ground. The video of the accident went viral, capturing the moment Valero spun out of control before crashing. Witnesses claimed that the first lady Cilia Flores’s children witnessed the scene.
Valero was the director of Vagú, a high-end jewelry and watch store in Miami’s Design District, with branches in Caracas, Colombia, and Switzerland. There, exclusive brands like Rolex, Hublot, and Roger Dubuis were sold. Valero used to assert, “We are a family living off luxury.”
In Venezuela, Vagú was the exclusive distributor of Rolex and Tudor watches, located in the Paseo El Hatillo shopping center. In Florida, Exclusividades Vagú, Corp was represented by Valero, who founded it in 2015. Companies linked to Fernando Valero reportedly received $37.3 million in 11 transfers from bank accounts controlled by businessman Raúl Gorrín and his associates.
Gorrín is the owner of Globovisión and was one of the accused in a money laundering case involving eight people, including businessmen and bankers. According to the indictment presented by the prosecution in federal court in Miami, these individuals laundered $1.2 billion from fraudulent currency exchange operations and bribes in the state-owned oil company PDVSA.
Fernando Valero was a close friend of Raúl Gorrín and his brother-in-law and partner Gustavo Perdomo. Upon learning of Valero’s death, Gorrín posted an emotional message on Instagram, expressing his love and sorrow. He also promised to protect Valero’s children and widow, Yngrid Silva.
Message dedicated by businessman Raúl Gorrín to Fernando Valero Gutiérrez in 2018
Properties Under Suspicion
Among the properties confiscated by the U.S. government for being linked to money laundering, there are four registered under the names of companies where Valero was listed as a director. Three of them were houses in Coral Gables, and one was an apartment in Brickell. Valero was not formally charged, as he had already passed away when the indictment was presented.
One of the houses, located on Prado Boulevard in Coral Gables, was valued at $2.2 million and was owned by Britestar Worldwide Ltd Corp, a company where Valero served as director and president. This firm also owned an apartment on Brickell Avenue, valued at $619,000, which housed another company associated with Marion Valero Gutiérrez, sister of Fernando, and Yngrid Silva Fleires, his widow. Britestar purchased the house in 2011 and declared a business address in Coral Gables, which belonged to Gorrín.
Another house in Coral Gables, located on the same street as the previous ones and valued at $3.1 million, was owned by Bogasa International Investments, whose manager was Mario Enrique Bonilla Vallera, one of the accused in being a frontman for “Los Chamos” Flores. Bonilla was Valero’s partner in a company in Mauritius.
Prosecutors also seized a villa on Hibiscus Street in Miami, valued at $2.7 million, registered in the name of Gustavo Hernández Frieri, a Colombian financier identified as one of the masterminds behind the laundering operation.
Besides these properties, Valero owned a mansion in the exclusive Cocoplum area of Miami through Britestar Worldwide Limited, Corp.
Fernando Valero resided in Venezuela’s El Hatillo municipality in Miranda state, where his younger brother Daniel Valero, CEO of CCSCEX, still resides, along with other members of the Valero Gutiérrez family since their parents separated.
The Complex Web of Businesses and Lawsuits Against Daniel Valero Gutiérrez, CEO of Caracas Commodity Exchange (CCSCEX)
Before becoming the CEO of Caracas Commodity Exchange (CCSCEX), Daniel Valero Gutiérrez was involved in the furniture, jewelry, and watch industries. However, his business trajectory has been fraught with legal conflicts, both for contractual breaches and alleged fraud and conspiracy charges.
“In the struggle for survival, the strongest wins at the expense of its rivals by adapting better to its environment,” is a phrase by Charles Darwin, the father of Evolutionism, that Daniel Valero Gutiérrez has always kept in mind in his business life, as he confessed over a decade ago. And it seems he embodies this fully.
From Jeweler to Adriana Hoyos Franchisee
Daniel Valero Gutiérrez has said he comes from a family of jewelers and watchmakers, but from a young age felt drawn to the furniture, architecture, and decoration market. Therefore, along with his wife and partner, Carolina Parra, he set out to import the Colombian brand Adriana Hoyos to Venezuela, internationally recognized for its contemporary and fine style.
Adriana Hoyos Store, Caracas
To obtain the Adriana Hoyos license, Daniel Valero and Carolina Parra had to travel to Miami and convince the executives of AH Corp. As Daniel Valero recounted in 2011: “We took a flight to Miami not knowing what response we would get and headed to the AH Corp offices, where after a long meeting, back and forth, captivated by our enthusiasm and perseverance, they finally granted us the license.”
With financial support from Banco Activo and seed capital from their own savings, Daniel Valero and Carolina Parra initiated the project to establish Adriana Hoyos in Caracas over a decade ago. What began as a family challenge evolved into a growing business, operating under the name Ceniza Minimalist Style C.A., registered in Venezuela in 2008.
The Lawsuit for Leasing and the Fraud Charge
Ceniza Minimalist Style C.A. was sued in 2014 for breach of a leasing contract. In that lawsuit, Daniel Valero’s father, Fernando Valero Borrás, was the legal representative of the company. However, that was not the only legal issue faced by Daniel Valero Gutiérrez. That same year, he was accused along with three others of fraud and conspiracy for having deceived four investors who contributed money to a laboratory company which did not return their capital or the promised interests.
José Simón Elarba Haddad
The plaintiffs were José Simón Elarba Haddad, José Luis Potolicchio Prats, Ibrahim José Velutini Sosa, and Nafic Gonzalo Chacón Djeandji, representing the companies Comercializadora INTE C.A. and Distribuidora Mi Cometa C.A. According to the complaint, Daniel Valero Gutiérrez contacted them in March 2013 to offer an investment opportunity in the company Venezolana de Laboratorios C.A. (VENLABCA), which allegedly had debts and needed liquidity. Daniel Valero assured them that their invested money would be returned within 30 to 60 days, along with profits.
Unknown incident in 2012 in Caracas, with Daniel Valero, then a representative of the furniture brand Adriana Hoyos.
The investors trusted the proposal and transferred a total of 72 million bolívares to VENLABCA’s bank accounts, represented by Erwin Enrique Méndez Labarca. However, the deadline passed, and the money was not returned. Daniel Valero and Erwin Méndez Labarca continued to offer excuses and promises but never fulfilled what was agreed. In May 2013, Scarlet Coromoto Ponce de Hernández, another representative of VENLABCA, issued checks totaling 25 million bolívares in favor of the plaintiffs, but these were rejected due to insufficient funds.
Faced with this situation, the plaintiffs went to the Public Ministry in January 2014. The prosecution investigated the case and in February 2015 charged Daniel Valero Gutiérrez, Scarlet Ponce de Hernández, Erwin Méndez Labarca, and Lisandro Marín Villasmil with the crimes of fraud and conspiracy. The criminal process was affected by several procedural flaws, changes of judges, and delays of hearings, leading the plaintiffs to request the involvement of the Criminal Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice in March 2017.
In a 2017 ruling, the Supreme Court of Justice granted the request, annulled the decision of the Sixth Control Court that had dismissed the case in October 2016, and ordered a new preliminary hearing to clarify the facts and establish the corresponding criminal responsibilities.
Interestingly, one of the plaintiffs, José Simón Elarba Haddad, is the owner of the waste collection company Fospuca and a close friend of Carlos Erik Malpica Flores, nephew of Venezuela’s First Lady, Cilia Flores. Moreover, Cilia Flores is the mother of friends of Fernando Valero, brother of the accused Daniel Valero Gutiérrez, who passed away in 2018.
Another Lawsuit for Breach of Lease Contract
Daniel Valero Gutiérrez, in his capacity as director of the company Distribuidora Monte Carlo Venezuela C.A., was the subject of another lawsuit before the Fourth Ordinary Municipality and Execution Measures Court of the Metropolitan Judicial Circuit of Caracas for alleged breach of lease contract.
The lawsuit was filed by Sokhit Josefina Velasco de Mendoza, represented by lawyers Luis Eliéser Jansen García, Freddy Manuel Sanz Flores, and Hermán Rojas Arteaga. The contract in question was related to the leasing of an office located at the La Lagunita Country Club Business Center.
Initially, the court ruled in favor of the lawsuit against Distribuidora Monte Carlo Venezuela C.A., represented by Valero Gutiérrez. However, Valero Gutiérrez appealed the decision in November 2021.
In a second instance, the Third Superior Civil, Commercial, Traffic, and Banking Court of the Metropolitan Judicial Circuit of Caracas determined to nullify the first-instance ruling, as it considered that the right to defense of the defendant company was violated.
The reason was that the notification and citation to answer the lawsuit were not carried out in accordance with the statutes of Distribuidora Monte Carlo Venezuela C.A., which required at least two directors to be cited jointly. In this case, only Daniel Valero Gutiérrez attended.
Thus, the Superior Court ordered to restore the case to the state of responding to the lawsuit, prior notification to both parties as established in the company’s statutes. But who else was part of Distribuidora Monte Carlo Venezuela C.A.?
Daniel Valero Gutiérrez’s Links to Another Man with Fraud and Scamming History
Marco Aurelio Rodriguez, Amintore Confalonieri, and Daniel Valero Gutiérrez at the Caracas Commodity Exchange (CCSCEX), January 2022.
Daniel Valero Gutiérrez, CEO of Caracas Commodity Exchange (CCSCEX), has created several companies both inside and outside Venezuela, some of which have been linked to another individual accused of fraud and scamming: Amintore Confalonieri. One of these companies is CCSCEX itself, where Confalonieri was presented, at least until 2022, as a co-founder.
Daniel Valero’s Companies Abroad
The first company that Daniel Valero registered outside of his country was NUDOS ENERGY CORP in the Dominican Republic in July 2013. This company would engage, according to its purpose, in oil and gas activities. A year later, in July 2014, Valero registered another company in the same country: FONDO 3, which was supposedly focused on the real estate and construction sectors, as well as the commercialization of minerals, oil, and other natural products. The most recent company known to Valero abroad is Ccscex Caracas Commodity Exchange Corp, registered in Florida, United States, in April 2023, along with a citizen named Oswaldo Rojas.
The address of Ccscex Caracas Commodity Exchange Corp at 14301 SW 130 AVE, MIAMI, FL, 33186, matches that of a house valued at nearly one million dollars.
Headquarters of Ccscex Caracas Commodity Exchange Corp at 14301 SW 130 AVE
Headquarters of Ccscex Caracas Commodity Exchange Corp at 14301 SW 130 AVE
The Relationship Between Daniel Valero and Amintore Confalonieri
Amintore Confalonieri, Daniel Valero Gutiérrez, and Marco Aurelio Rodriguez at the Caracas Commodity Exchange (CCSCEX), March 2022.
Amintore Sebastiano Confalonieri Espínal is an individual who has been accused in numerous online forums of committing fraud and scams, both in Venezuela and other countries, and has prior convictions for those offenses in Venezuela. Among his deceptions, he is accused of posing as a photographer and offering fake modeling contracts to his victims. Confalonieri was a partner of Daniel Valero in a company called Distribuidora Monte Carlo Venezuela C.A., which operated under the name “The Buy to Go,” a supposed application for payment and delivery services. This company was sued in Venezuela for breach of lease contract. According to a fraud report on an online forum, Confalonieri assured some of his victims that their money was backed by Nudos Energy Corp SAS, Daniel Valero’s company in the Dominican Republic.
Promotional advertisement for The Buy to Go
Amintore Confalonieri with Venezuelan social journalist Angela Oraa, at the Caracas Commodity Exchange (CCSCEX). March 2022.
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