With approximately 1.35 million lawyers, the United States has one of the highest per capita rates of attorneys worldwide and is considered one of the most litigious societies on the planet. Imagine my surprise to learn that Adam Kaufmann, former deputy to the legendary New York District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, is representing the narco-terrorist Cliver Alcalá Cordones.
This modern-day Bruce Cutler has been hired by some of the most notorious thugs produced by Venezuela. In 2014, Kaufmann traveled to Caracas with Peter Fritsch to intimidate/threaten Wall Street Journal journalists who were working on a story about Derwick Associates. But even before that, in early 2012, Kaufmann took on the representation of Moris Beracha, the thug who helped PDVSA and Francisco Illarramendi siphon off $500 million from workers’ pension funds.
Kaufmann’s small firm also faced Banca Privada d’Andorra (BPA), another target of the U.S. Treasury, which labeled it a “money laundering concern.” At one time, BPA was the preferred bank for a considerable number of Venezuelan criminals, including Kaufmann’s own clients.
Kaufmann was not always like this. A few years ago, in an interview with Folha de Sao Paulo, he stated:
“My department secured the conviction of Dennis Kozlowski and Mark Swartz, president and CFO of Tyco, to 25 years in prison for stealing millions of dollars from the company. It is the recognition that a corrupt businessman can harm people’s lives more than a mere thief.” [bold added]
In other words, Kaufmann used to think that businesspeople involved in corruption should be severely punished, given the consequences of their actions. Evidently, Kaufmann no longer thinks this way. He is now completely indifferent to the devastating consequences that his client Alejandro Betancourt, for instance, has inflicted on millions of Venezuelans. He will now represent in court a man accused of narco-terrorism, drug trafficking, corruption, and other crimes.
I sent Kaufmann a question this morning: Is someone paying him, or is this a pro bono job? Considering the client, can Kaufmann guarantee that his retainer is not covered with drug money or illicit proceeds from corruption?
We do not expect clarifications but rather to reflect on how Kaufmann became Alcalá Cordones’ attorney. Kaufmann has defended/represented Beracha and Betancourt et al. in the past. Both Beracha and Betancourt are known corrupt individuals, although their corruption has mostly been limited to financial dealings, purchases, and energy, meaning they belong to a criminal gang involved in a different sector of the “Chavista economy.” Having studied both Beracha and Betancourt, we still need to find concrete evidence of involvement in drug trafficking, which is what the Justice Department accused Alcalá Cordones of.
Kaufmann has an accomplice, Martín Rodil, a former driver for the Venezuelan Embassy in DC who reinvented himself—if we believe the Bloomberg propaganda—as some sort of fixer. We understand that, through Kaufmann, Rodil has been “providing information” to various federal agencies, which in itself is incredible.
No one talks about how Rodil went from being an embassy driver to owning a house worth over a million dollars through a Dutch shell company. Even less is mentioned about Rodil’s business connections with Roger Noriega and his address in DC.
So how does a member of the Cartel de los Soles end up as Kaufmann’s client? Beracha and Betancourt have had their fingers in some of the largest money laundering schemes in Venezuela.
In Betancourt’s case, we have evidence of Venezuelan intelligence’s involvement in Derwick’s affairs. Intelligence has historically been the domain of Hugo Carvajal, another drug lord from the Cartel de los Soles recently indicted by the Justice Department.
Another possible clue is the “opposition” in Venezuela. Beracha’s ex-partner is a trusted advisor to Carlos Vecchio. Juan Guaido is funded by Betancourt, and Alcalá Cordones has been helping Guaido in Colombia. It is entirely feasible that thugs aligned with Guaido facilitated the connection between Kaufmann and Alcalá Cordones.
It is no secret that Venezuela is a narco-state, as we have been stating since at least 2006. Kaufmann’s activities should undergo thorough scrutiny. If that were to happen, it’s highly likely he would end up like Cutler.