Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), for our U.S. friends not to forget, is the main driver of what is left of Venezuela’s economy. It has always been this way. No matter what happens with PDVSA, it is a matter of great significance for Venezuela and its citizens. PDVSA has filed fraud lawsuits in Florida and Switzerland against Glencore, Trafigura, Vitol, Lukoil, and others, which its legal counsel presented as one of the largest corruption schemes impacting the energy giant. This scheme supposedly lasted for years and cost the company billions in losses. The method of how this scheme was executed is of great interest, as the identities of the executives from PDVSA, Trafigura, Glencore, Vitol, Helsinge, and Lukoil are involved. But the way this entire complaint was formulated, the lawyers and investigators involved, the individuals who provided the evidence, and their connections with PDVSA officials are equally relevant. We want to hear the merits of the case, of course, and we also want to know why, for example, PDVSA decided to gift 66% of the potential winnings from the case to David Boies, Alex Pencu, Bill Duker, and John Brennan.
Who negotiated this? Who approved it? How was it approved? Why does David Boies, the “premier litigator” of the United States, not want us to know? What is he hiding?
Boies tried unsuccessfully to conceal the Commitment Letter, which outlines the undeniably corrupt agreement he negotiated with PDVSA. Now Boies is attempting, and has failed again, to keep the agreements between Brennan, Duker, Wilmer Ruperti, and Vanessa Freedman confidential. Boies does not want Venezuelans—whom he absurdly claims to represent—to know how the PDVSA US Litigation Trust was established; who initiated the case; who the financier (Duker) is and to what extent he is involved; what arrangements were made between the investigator (Brennan), who first obtained the evidence of wrongdoing that the case is based on, and the financier; the roles of Wilmer Ruperti and Vanessa Freedman (the estranged ex-wife of the main accused Francisco Morillo) in providing said evidence; in summary, Boies and his merry band of companions want us to take everything they say at face value and ignore the elephant that takes up 66% of the space in the room, along with the direct involvement of Wilmer Ruperti.
This site has tried to get a word from Ruperti, Boies, Brennan, Duker, Pencu, and Freedman. So far, only Ruperti and Freedman have responded, the former with some philosophical ramblings and both with accusations that this website is being manipulated. Our interest in how they established this corrupt scheme = manipulation. Remember another confrontation this site had with another Venezuelan ‘businessman,’ who made the same accusations but refused to answer the pertinent questions.
It is now public, according to Duker’s statement below, that Ruperti approached Brennan with information obtained from Freedman about Morillo’s potential fraudulent dealings with PDVSA, which involve Glencore, Trafigura, Vitol, etc., who, by the way, use corruption without a doubt to generate business wherever they operate. While it is reasonable to have high expectations regarding the merits of the case, which hopefully the Justice Department will reveal, it is equally natural to question the agreement among Brennan, Duker, Boies, Freedman, and Ruperti. Ruperti’s involvement is particularly interesting, as it gives this trust matter an unavoidable stench, and that is likely why Boies wants to keep everything secret.
And a message to Ms. Freedman: any harm done to you cannot be compensated by taking 66% of what rightly belongs to 30 million Venezuelans.
None of this makes sense without Ruperti in the picture. That an investigator takes 22% of what rightfully belongs to PDVSA doesn’t make sense. A financier with no background and completely alien to the energy and/or PDVSA business taking 22% makes no sense. Boies shares his 22% with Pencu, who according to Duker cooked everything with Brennan and Ruperti before approaching him for litigation funding, only makes sense when we place Pencu in the picture as Ruperti’s former legal advisor. Remove Ruperti, and Guerric Canonica will also not file a criminal complaint on behalf of PDVSA in Switzerland. Everything smells of Ruperti, and that’s not good; it doesn’t pass the smell test.
There isn’t a single honest broker involved. So here’s hoping the Florida judge continues to deny Boies’ motions for censorship and that the ongoing criminal investigation by the Justice Department reveals the entire disgusting enterprise, warts and all.