Shelf companies or paper companies are typically established with the intention of laundering money. These various entities are created in accordance with the law, yet their primary purpose is to conceal and obscure the actual economic activities that generate income for their owners and third parties, such as partners. Money and profits obtained through illegal activities like drug trafficking, arms smuggling, human trafficking, bribery, and corruption are often involved.
These activities produce vast amounts of illegal funds for participants, leading them to use various methods and techniques for money laundering, allowing them to portray their income and capital as legitimate.
This is the second publication in a series of 4 articles investigating drug trafficking on Margarita Island. See the first part of the investigation here.
As a result, in the vast majority of cases, such companies are regarded as fraudulent, as they do not engage in the economic or commercial activities for which they were formed; instead, they undertake actions that diverge from what is declared at their inception, such as money laundering and related crimes.
Due to this, shell companies impact entire countries and societies, as they support and conceal criminal activities that undermine the economic and social order.
Characteristics of shell companies:
Shell companies can be identified and recognized for various reasons, including:
· Their capital source as a corporate entity is unclear.
· Multiple companies are created with different economic activities, often consisting of individuals.
· They provide false information, including data required by their registration (phones, addresses, locations, etc.).
· They handle large cash flows, with the majority of payments and transactions carried out in this manner.
· They often have very common names that yield many conflicting results when searched online.
· They engage in business that doesn’t match their financial capacity or image.
· Report results are vastly different from those of other companies in the same industry performing similar activities.
· They are created in a short time frame.
Ghost Companies
This is well-known among a Colombo-Arab-Syrian-Venezuelan criminal organization with many implicated individuals, both within and outside Margarita, including Samir Makiad Alfalah (Maklad) and Faisal Fakik Kadri (Fakih). The team at InformeSinFronteras.com assigned to this investigation continues to reveal information gathered during their visit to Venezuela.
Faisal Fakih Kadri was born in Colombia. He is the president of the Digitec Group and CEO of the shopping center Family Market, located on Av. Aldonza Manrique in Playa El Ángel.
It is public knowledge that the aforementioned gentlemen also own the chain of supermarkets Rio Supermarket, for which they formed the following group of firms in the United States: Grupo Rio LLC, Rio Group Services LLC, and Rio Group Enterprise LLC.
According to their registration, they are located at 4252 SW 186TH AVE, MIRAMAR, Florida, USA. Interestingly, the company’s address does not lead to a commercial building as is common in that country, but rather to a luxury residence in Sunset Lakes, a prestigious gated community in Central Florida.
In this company, Raed Alfalah Maklad, a young 21-year-old heir, is listed as the director and is currently studying at Miami Dade College (Florida-USA).
Rio Group Services LLC and Rio Group Enterprise LLC
The registered address for these firms is 6305 NW 99TH AVE, DORAL, Florida, USA. This address corresponds to a corner near an area of industrial warehouses, where no Rio Group office was found.
Listed as directors for these firms are Raed Alfalah Maklad and Mauricio Emilio Acevedo Marchena, a Colombian national from Bogotá who also holds Venezuelan nationality; he was previously the general director of the Legislative Council of Nueva Esparta and has a criminal record for fraud and simulating a punishable act.
His brother is Nelson Rene Acevedo Marchena, a social leader and current councilor for the Arismendi Municipality in Nueva Esparta.
We mention more companies from the group registered in the US:
All Engine Oils LLC
This firm also lists the address 6305 NW 99TH AVE, DORAL, Florida, USA, with Mauricio Emilio Acevedo Marchena and attorney Janoara Carmen Figueroa Rodriguez (Janohara), a graduate of Gran Mariscal de Ayacucho University (UGMA), as directors. She currently serves as deputy director at the Autonomous Socialist Institute of Ports of the Bolivarian State of Nueva Esparta (I.A.S.P.E.B.N.E).
Grandstream Solution Inc.
The address corresponds to a multifamily building located at 4990 SW 72ND AVE, MIAMI, Florida, USA. Directors are Faisal Fakih Kadri and Mauricio Emilio Acevedo Marchena.
Other companies associated with the group in Venezuela include: Tourist Developments AAA, C.A. and Real Estate Developments 2018, through which they became involved in illegal land purchases on Margarita Island with the participation of alleged opponents of the Venezuelan regime. There are multiple records linking Mauricio Emilio Acevedo Marchena to these purchases. This fraudulent land purchasing method was also applied in Valencia by individuals Hosam Fakih Kadri (Hasam) and Talal Fakih Kadri (Talel).
At the intersection of Av. Circunvalación Nte. and Av. 4 de mayo in Porlamar, next to the DIGITEC building, a shopping center called World Trade Center Porlamar is under construction. On the website of the World Trade Centers Association, Talal Fakih Kadri is listed as the contact person for this branch, who also owns Invertropoli, a distributor of tires, rims, and inner tubes (tripes). Between 2004 and 2011, they received US$ 41.4 million through CADIVI. This company represents brands like Armoor, Federal, Metrollantas, Triangle, Advance, Kumho, for both cargo transport and personal use. Simultaneously, Talal Fakih Kadri had a total of 13 more companies under his name, which would violate Article 113 of the Organic Customs Law of Venezuela concerning monopolies. Additionally, in the Sicad I auction number 12 in May 2014, he received US$ 19.3 million.
The Metró Cubico Urbano construction company, with headquarters in Venezuela and Colombia, is responsible for most constructions of the group, including the locations of RIO Supermarket, Family Market, World Trade Center Porlamar, remodeling of elevators in offices of the Alfalah Group, and others. This contractor is closely related to projects with Nogarq Arquitectura (Nogarq Noriega & Garcia Associates).
The company ABISMO C.A. (Venezuela), used for distribution, export, import, and re-export of goods in general under the Freeport regime of Margarita Island, also lists Ahmed Fakin Hacheemm as a partner, who has tax violations records with the National Integrated Service of Customs and Tax Administration (SENIAT). As a result of that investigation, part of his company called OCEANNIC C.A. was seized.
The last company we will mention in this report is GTtronic, operating from Punto Fijo and Margarita, through which they distribute refrigerators and air conditioners to Venezuela, Panama, and Miami (USA).
They Do the Dirty Work
The heads of this organization know how to protect themselves and maintain distance from the dirty work. They establish connections with seasoned criminals who operate entirely with the acquiescence and protection of key political and police figures while hiring the right people to ensure their smuggling operations run smoothly.
The main leaders of the organization responsible for receiving and distributing drugs are criminals with extensive criminal backgrounds, the primary one being Johnny Alexander Silva Rodriguez, alias Yostin, Jostin, Yosmel, or Yostin la Asunción, who is alleged to be the mastermind behind the homicide of Teófilo Cazorla Rodríguez, alias conejo, and his brother Wilfredo Antonio Cazorla. Following these events, Eddy José Silva, alias panqueca, a member of the Yostin gang, was arrested. After the deaths of these brothers, Yostin became the most powerful gang leader in Margarita, controlling all movements of criminals on the island.
Yostin Pran Margarita
Other significant members of the group include those known by the aliases Marquito Guamache and Vicmar, who pilot the speedboats loaded with drugs. Vicmar was involved in the San Juan de las Galdonas Massacre; the story began with a local gang led by alias Malony that stole a boat from Vicmar, laden with millions in cash obtained from cocaine sales, leading to a simultaneous operation in San Juan de Unare, Cerro El Humo, and San Juan de las Galdonas, where Malony and his gang were killed.
Despite having total control over the necessary operations in the ports to load containers bound for Europe and the Caribbean, as well as loading illegal flights, most of the drugs cross the Caribbean in speedboats.
The main route used by drug boats runs through a group of islands along the Caribbean Archipelago. Venezuela lies 834 kilometers from Trinidad and Tobago, with several islands nearby until reaching Cuba, like Grenada, Martinique, and Saint Kitts and Nevis. The route then leads to larger islands, starting with Puerto Rico and Hispaniola, home to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, ending with Jamaica and then Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean. Typically, they first send a fishing boat as a decoy, which alerts them to hazards in the area. Spotting these boats in the Caribbean is not easy; they tend to travel at high speeds at twilight, and during daylight, they are covered by a barely visible blue-green tarp, continuing their journey after nightfall. As they approach different islands, they meet local smugglers at sea who transship their load. Most of the Venezuelan crew returns to the South American mainland, and the process repeats.
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