Three departments in Washington are investigating the ramifications and individuals involved in the Pdvsa corruption scheme, which has reportedly resulted in over US$21 billion in missing funds to date, for potential violations of U.S. laws.
Casto Ocando | @cocando
Federal agencies linked to the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, and Treasury are gathering and expanding information and names that have emerged in recent days from the corruption scandal shaking the Venezuelan state oil company Pdvsa and the upper echelons of Nicolás Maduro’s regime, according to sources who spoke with Primer Informe.
The agencies are “expanding existing accusations or opening new federal investigations” against nearly four dozen operators and officials connected to Pdvsa’s corruption—most of whom have been arrested—who may have committed a series of violations of U.S. laws, the sources indicated.
The offenses range from violating the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department against Pdvsa to dollar-based money laundering operations linked to the U.S. financial system involving part of the embezzled funds.
The investigations are focused on figures already under investigation or sanctioned by the Treasury Department. At least two prosecutors’ offices, the Southern District of Florida based in Miami and the Southern District of Texas based in Houston, are broadening their inquiries.
Leading the investigations is former Minister of Petroleum Tarek El Aissami, who has been accused by Nicolás Maduro’s regime of directing a criminal organization that embezzled at least US$3 billion in dealings with the Venezuelan state oil company and left invoices unpaid totaling US$21 billion.
Alongside El Aissami, several of his decade-long associates are implicated in the embezzlement, including Deputy Hugbel Roa, who controlled a group of businessmen reportedly investing the embezzled money into construction projects and other investments both within and outside of Venezuela.
Indirectly implicated by the Venezuelan regime itself, Tarek El Aissami was the protector of various corrupt Pdvsa officials investigated in the recent anti-corruption operation of the Maduro regime. FOTO: ZiaLater.
The Heirs of Álex Saab
Federal authorities are particularly interested in the roles of operators Alessandro Bazzoni, an Italian national, and Joaquín Leal Jiménez, a Mexican citizen, whom the Treasury Department considers the “heirs” of Colombian operator Álex Saab, currently detained in the United States and labeled by Washington as a frontman for dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Mexican Joaquín Jiménez Leal, known as a partner of Álex Saab, is being investigated for the corrupt Pdvsa scheme.
Both operators are considered trusted personnel of El Aissami, a fugitive from U.S. justice—with a US$15 million bounty on his head—who has just been ousted by Maduro’s regime and is currently under house arrest.
Both Bazzoni and Leal were sanctioned in 2021 by OFAC. Federal investigators determined that after Saab’s arrest in June 2020, Bazzoni took on Saab’s role of coordinating the resale operations of Pdvsa crude and providing ships to pick up the crude at Venezuelan ports.
Italian Alessandro Bazzoni participated significantly as Joaquín Leal’s partner in the fraudulent scheme through which they allegedly plundered Pdvsa.
Joaquín Leal, for his part, coordinated “the purchase and sale of Venezuelan crude from Pdvsa and its subsidiary, Pdvsa Petróleo S.A., providing knowledge of the global oil sector and facilitating the transport and resale to buyers,” in blatant violation of U.S. sanctions.
According to OFAC, Bazzoni and Leal used the company Libre Abordo S.A for the exchange of oil for tankers at an inflated price, generating corrupt profits for those involved in the negotiations.
Both are at the center of a criminal investigation for their continued participation in the illegal transportation scheme of Venezuelan crude to international markets, using means and mechanisms that violate the sanctions imposed by the Treasury Department, the sources reported.
According to details that have emerged regarding the corruption scheme investigated by the Venezuelan Prosecutor’s Office, Bazzoni and Leal associated with various shipowners, primarily Greek nationals George Moundreas and Panagis Zissimatos, to purchase and operate the vessels necessary to move all the crude and refined products from Pdvsa to China and other markets, managing the generated resources without accountability.
George Moundreas along with his compatriot Panagis Zissimatos undertook to locate ships to move the oil loads in the fraudulent scheme.
Panagis Zissimatos, alongside Moundreas, were responsible for buying and operating the necessary vessels to transport Pdvsa’s cargo to China and other markets, without accountability.
Additionally, Bazzoni and Leal hired Erik Roveta, an Italian residing in Athens, to be the administrator and operator of all the vessels necessary for this scam. Roveta is a broker who serves as a technical manager and owns several specialized companies including Sernavimar SRL and Axione Chartering OU, among others, which are also under investigation.
Bazzoni and Leal also partnered with Swiss national Phillipp Apikian from the oil company Swiss Oil Trading SA, based in Geneva and also under U.S. sanctions, to market Venezuelan crude and refined products in Asia.
The two operators utilized a Mexican financier, José Luis Chávez Cava, who resides between London and Dubai and works for Joaquín Leal’s organization, to collect and facilitate all payments for the corruption scheme that is estimated to have mobilized resources exceeding US$8 billion, according to investigations.
Mexican financier José Luis Chávez Calva was responsible for collecting and facilitating all payments for the corruption scheme estimated to have mobilized over US$8 billion.
According to the Treasury Department, four other companies—Schlager Business Group SdRL, Cosmo Resources PTE Ltd, Delta Group Ltd, and United Petroleum Corp.—were used by Bazzoni and Leal for the oil-for-food operation managed by Álex Saab and Álvaro Pulido. It is estimated that in this scheme, which took place between 2019 and 2022, Bazzoni and Leal, along with Saab and Pulido, marketed over 50 million barrels of crude and refined products from Pdvsa valued at around US$5 billion. However, the fate of both the generated amount and the food traded for Venezuelan oil remains unknown.
Other Protected Operators
After the capture of Alex Saab and OFAC’s designation, Bazzoni and Leal became distinguished protegidos of Tarek El Aissami, until very recently the powerful lord of Pdvsa, alongside a significant faction controlled by the regime’s military, headed by Colonel Antonio Pérez Suárez, Vice President of Commerce and Supply.
Colonel Pérez Suárez, according to accusations in Venezuela, was at the center of the corruption scheme as he demanded cash payments in the millions for each loaded ship of crude and petroleum products from Pdvsa, whose sales never entered the coffers of the Venezuelan corporation.
Others protected by El Aissami included Alejandro Arroyo (currently detained in Venezuela) and José Camacho, who controlled the firm Walker International DWC LLC, based in Dubai, used as part of the group of companies with which Bazzoni conducted operations.
Walker International, based in Dubai and controlled by Mexican financier José Luis Chavez Calva, was used to divert the embezzled resources from Pdvsa.
That firm alone—Walker International—mobilized nearly 4 million barrels of crude between 2021 and 2022, sourced from Petrocedeño, Amuay, Cardon, and Petro San Felix terminals, according to a presentation reviewed by Primer Informe.
However, El Aissami was not the only one maintaining protected operators in the international Venezuelan oil business. Figures like Diosdado Cabello and the Rodríguez brothers (Delcy and Jorge) had significant shares in the corruption scheme, with operators typically lacking any experience in the oil business, whose sole aim was to siphon billions of dollars from the Venezuelan state oil company.
Diosdado Cabello, as well as the Rodríguez brothers Delcy and Jorge, also had “protected” individuals in the Pdvsa corruption scheme.
One such case is Miguel Silva, an operator protected by Diosdado Cabello, linked to the firms Misil Group Ltd and Grupo Iveex Insaat. Silva’s dealings with Bazzoni benefited both him and his protector, but one of their last operations unexpectedly failed.
According to the testimony of a businessman closely familiar with this operation, Miguel Silva had managed to load the ship MT Cecilia to negotiate it in the international market through his firm Misil Group Ltd, but once loaded, the ship was blocked and later unloaded because the corresponding commission to Colonel Pérez Suárez hadn’t been paid.
This event was one of the triggers that precipitated the Anti-Corruption Police investigations of the dictatorship.
The operators Majed Khalil Majzoub and Arturo Sarmiento, protected by the Rodríguez brothers, participated in the corruption scheme through the firms Montmagastre Ventures Limited and Five Oceans Ltd.
Through Montmagastre Ventures LTD, Pdvsa contracted to load Merey 16—a high-quality crude—a series of crude transportation vessels. One of these is the MT Kelly, a VLCC tanker with a capacity of over 250 thousand tons. They also used the freighter MT Berlina (Suezmax, capable of 1 million barrels of crude), which, however, was renamed Mars A, currently in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, waiting to enter port. Finally, another ship designated as MT Ndros (another VLCC) is a fake name to prevent these vessels, which violate treaties and international regulations, from being detained and confiscated at sea—a new modality in Pdvsa’s corrupt business practices.
The Fraud Scheme
In fact, changing the names of the ships that transported the cargo was an essential part of the corruption scheme.
The most notable case was that of a tanker operated by the Majzoub brothers’ firm—protected by Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez—named FortOne, which was actually the MT Nikel. Notably, the ship now has another name: Orbit I.
When the Anti-Corruption Police launched their operation, the ship FortOne hurriedly weighed anchor. At the time, it was loaded but had not been granted sailing authorization, and a group of Venezuelan agents were still on board. Without waiting for authorization, the ship sailed, and when it reached international waters, the captain decided to drop the Venezuelan agents off on a raft and leave them adrift. The agents were later rescued by the Venezuelan Coast Guard.
The operators of the ship—Alessandro Bazzoni, Joaquín Leal, and George Moundreas—simply appropriated the cargo of the ship, worth several tens of millions of dollars.
As part of the anti-corruption operation, however, the regime has so far seized two ships linked to the corrupt scheme: the MT Rana and MT Oreo, which are also suspected to be fake names.
A third vessel, the MT Gent (another false name), is docked at the Jose terminal loaded with 2 million barrels of Merey 16, but it remains unclear whether it managed to set sail. This freighter is part of the fleet controlled by Alessandro Bazzoni.
The estimated losses from the corruption scheme are now around US$21 billion, according to documents published by Reuters, an unprecedented figure.
The federal investigation in the United States is trying to determine, with the help of informants and witnesses, if part of this money touched the U.S. financial system, the sources indicated.
The corruption scheme operated with various actors and procedures that reveal the total impunity with which they operated for years.
Together with Colonel Pérez Suárez, operators Bazzoni and Leal ordered the loading of the initial vessels to already contacted clients expediently, expediting sailing after cash payments to the military.
When the vessels were already in international waters, the operators proposed to the client, through broker Erik Roveta, to hire more vessels by guaranteeing the cargo of the initial vessels already at sea. When those newly hired vessels arrived in Venezuela, Colonel Pérez Suárez was responsible for delaying the loading, generating extraordinary waits until it was justified to keep the product of the first vessel to cover the debts of the second or third.
The delay of a VLCC vessel had a cost of up to US$150,000 per day, depending on the size of the tanker, and the delay could last up to 40 days. After that time, the debt incurred due to the delay, which had to be covered by Pdvsa, plus the freight cost—which could reach US$20 million—was “settled” with the crude already in international waters.
Profits from the sale of crude were split among the operators and their protectors, creating a fraudulent scheme that drained tens of millions of barrels of crude from Pdvsa between 2021 and 2022.
So far, it remains unknown exactly where the resources obtained by operators linked to Tarek El Aissami, Diosdado Cabello, and the Rodríguez brothers ended up, although it has been reported in recent hours about the presumed recovery of more than US$400 million in money and properties from individuals implicated in the scheme, who are currently detained in Venezuela.
If you want to receive this and other news from Venezuela and the world on your mobile, download Telegram, enter the link https://t.me/primerinforme and click on +Join.
If you liked the article, share it
More news regarding
Alessandro Bazzoni or similar.