Roberto Añez, Juan Ramírez, and David Brillembourg, business associates of the then mayor of San Francisco, allegedly established a trust at Bancoex to access funds intended for constructing an incineration plant.
Roberto Añez, David Brillembourg, and Juan Ramírez, in partnership with the socialist mayor of the municipality of San Francisco in Zulia, Omar Prieto, who later became governor, created a trust at Bancoex to access resources from the Chinese Fund for the construction of a garbage incineration plant, according to findings from a corruption investigation by the United States Department of State.
The alert was made via X account by Iván Simonovis, who shares a link with detailed information.
Roberto Añez, David Brillembourg, and Juan Ramírez, this trio of corrupt executives secured a trust at Bancoex to access resources from the Chinese fund to “construct” a garbage incineration plant in Zulia State.
They were granted over $400 million, but all … pic.twitter.com/LLs6SyIe9n
— Iván Simonovis (@Simonovis) November 23, 2023
The trust at Bancoex was named Ciudad de Progreso Alpha I (Ciuproca), and by 2013, companies controlled by Añez and Ramírez liquidated over $400 million from Chinese fund resources. “All funds were diverted to the accounts of Añez, Ramírez, and Brillembourg,” states the document.
According to the investigations, Brillembourg connects with Prieto through his brother-in-law, Ernesto Pineda, and “thus managed to defraud and embezzle over $400 million from Venezuelans.”
Añez, the financial operator and bookkeeper for Brillembourg, who was later investigated and fined by the U.S. Department of Justice and Treasury, calls Ramírez, who had been treasurer of Banco Occidental de Descuento (BOD) and now is the owner and chairman of the board of Nodus International Bank with offices in Miami and Puerto Rico, to assist in setting up the corporate structure for the scheme used in this fraud.
How did they reach Ramírez? His sister, Bella Ramírez, is married to Ernesto Pineda, brother-in-law of David Brillembourg, it is detailed.
Añez and Ramírez primarily used four companies to receive the liquidations from the trust at Bancoex. The companies controlled by Ramírez are Papillon and Sonderlan, and those controlled by Añez are ABO International and Waste Pro Solutions. Añez utilized U.S. banks and Ramírez used Portuguese banks, including Banco Espírito Santo.
Prieto and Parada on the payroll
As evidenced in the Justice Department investigations, Añez from these companies that received funds from the Bancoex trust subsequently moved money to the financial group Brillembourg had on the island of Saint Lucia: BrillaBank.
From BrillaBank, an offshore bank, they managed to pay commissions to all public officials on their payroll, including Prieto and José Luis Parada, among others. The U.S. Department of Justice misidentified Añez and his companies as guilty of unlicensed money transmitting and tax evasion, fining him over three million dollars, when in reality, Añez, Ramírez, and Brillembourg were involved in money laundering and paying bribes to public employees of Nicolás Maduro’s government.
31-page lawsuit
In a 31-page lawsuit, IRS Special Agent Warren Rogers meticulously explains how payments and transfers were made to and from Venezuela, Mexico, Panama, the Netherlands, Portugal, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Switzerland, Spain, and Aruba.
Funds were funneled through a web of companies, some with known activities like a hotel construction and real estate firm in Miami owned by Venezuelan investors and others that apparently functioned as front firms, according to the lawsuit.
One of the accounts frozen appears in the name of International Services and Supplies Inc. (I.S. & S), which operates from Añez’s home on San Juan Drive in Coral Gables, Florida.
The I.S. & S account received $9.2 million in deposits from companies like ABO International and Waste Pro Solutions, which in turn had Añez as a signatory, suggesting that the businessman was both the remitter and beneficiary of the transfers. Some of the account’s outflows were used to pay for imported cars, Añez and Brillembourg’s private jet, equipment, and real estate, but investigators found no evidence that I.S. & S had any background or experience in those businesses.
In other cases, bank transfers did not indicate the reason for the operation. Some of the transfers were used to pay for parts for the Cessna airplane with registration N496RA, jewelry, artworks, and Hermes and Louis Vuitton items.
Monitored house
Añez’s house in Coral Gables was under covert surveillance, allowing investigators to conclude that the activities described by the companies registered at that address were not actually taking place there. According to other federal investigations, some Venezuelan businesspeople have engaged in a lucrative business in the U.S. in recent years, exchanging preferential-rate dollars issued by the Venezuelan government.
Juan Ramírez, another partner of Añez and Brillembourg after the embezzlement of the Chinese fund, has specialized in this exchange business through his banking platform in the USA, Nodus International Bank. In October 2022, Nodus International Bank, headed by Juan Ramírez, was found guilty by OFAC of violating sanctions imposed on Venezuela.
Following the collapse of the BrillaBank financial group, Brillembourg relied on Julio Herrera Velutini’s financial group in Puerto Rico, Bancredito International Bank, Banvelca CA, and Brittania Financial Group. Today, this financial group is also defunct, and Herrera Velutini has been accused by U.S. authorities of bribing then-governor of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vasquez, who has been found guilty and is facing trial, while Herrera Velutini is under house arrest.
Meanwhile, Juan Ramírez decided to part ways with Brillembourg and Añez, forging a path with the stolen funds from the trust and bought Nodus International Bank in partnership with Tomás Niembro Concha, and is currently also under investigation by OCIF in Puerto Rico for money laundering and is under dissolution proceedings. Roberto Añez, along with his brother Jorge Añez and his son Alexander Añez, has continued to launder money for Nicolás Maduro’s government,” details the document.
The Añez family would allegedly be, according to these investigations, the owners of the airline Avior and have used access to cryptocurrencies at preferential prices from Sunacrip in partnership with Joselit Ramírez, justifying it with the airline’s needs.
The Añez family delegated the responsibility of managing and coordinating all private flights and yacht charters to young Alexander through MWC Charter & Concierge LLC and Miami Luxury Yacht Group Co., involving these corrupt chavistas, many currently imprisoned. The primary paymaster platform that Añez offered was in partnership with Jorge Dellan, first cousin of Leonardo González Dellan, former president of the Banco Industrial de Venezuela and sanctioned by OFAC; thus, Añez and Dellan would have set up another corruption scheme to launder and steal money from Venezuelans,” reads the document.
After laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for businessmen allied with Tareck El Aissami and Joselit Ramírez through DL Services BV, where the administrator was Jorge Dellan, he is currently on the list of those being investigated by Europol along with his partner Roberto Añez. Among Añez and Dellan’s largest clients in this new phase were Pedro Ferrer from Lloyd Sudamericano CA, Jesús Vergara Betancourt, the principal contractor of the Corporación Venezolana de Guayana and Venalum.
According to sources close to the case, Añez and Dellan are under investigation not only by Europol but also by the Southern District of Florida, where they would be prosecuted for money laundering and bribery violations under the FCPA “Foreign Corrupt Practices Act”.