When I wake up, my routine no longer needs a coffee to motivate me. All I require is to check DolarToday.com to see that the empire’s currency is rising every day, while the Bolívar crashes. That shock is equivalent to an electric jolt. Day by day, I watch as the salary of a Venezuelan becomes worth less, while those with access to dollars are shielded from inflation. And how do I get dollars? I can’t. Only those with permission or connections, the ones in the trade. Who holds the dollars? A mafia made up of high-ranking Chavista officials, allied with public contractors in sectors like energy, oil, and infrastructure, alongside unscrupulous bankers who facilitate this fraud and profit from it. This is the business of CADIVI.
The members of this gang aren’t just Chavistas. As we’ve seen in previous writings, many of them are privileged kids who, despite having everything to progress honorably and help our country, chose to become white-collar criminals, draining Venezuela. Infodio’s email account is receiving a flood of messages from readers wanting to report and share information. What follows is an ongoing investigation (with the help of a growing network of volunteers), using anonymously received and verified information. I invite you to share any data, even if you think it might not matter. Preferably, it should be something demonstrable, as this website does not aim to get caught up in rumors. We’re looking to show, confirm, and expose the worst from both the Fourth and Fifth Republics.
David Osío, a banker from the Fourth Republic who became the guardian of the Chavismo’s illicit money.
When asked where the stolen dollars from the country are, one must remember that the government receives oil money in dollars, almost entirely in accounts located in the empire. From there, they pay contractors or transfer it to government “funds” and accounts abroad, like PDVSA’s payroll or pensions. To take a cut, government officials need accomplices in the financial world. Some of the most well-known include David Osío Montiel, Luis Alfonso Oberto (the tall skinny guy), “operators” like Moris Beracha, among many others.
The most notorious financier in Miami is called David Osío, or as his friends call him, “Panda.” He owns the Davos Financial Group. In La Lagunita, he’s known as “the banker of PDVSA.”
Among his connections is one of the PDVSA directors, Eudomario Carruyo, a staunch revolutionary whose son was once driving a Lamborghini in Miami when he crashed into a tree, resulting in the death of the co-pilot. Readers, Carruyito was driving a vehicle worth $320,000 and has no way to explain where that money came from:
Where do you think he got the cash for that purchase? From the PDVSA dollars that his dad had hidden in Davos. Today, Carruyito is on the run from American justice for homicide.
Another connection of Osío is former Finance Director of the oil company, Juan Montes, (they call him “Black”), who is currently facing a trial in the United States for participating in a fraud of over $500 million against retirees of PDVSA. Relationships like that of Montes and Carruyo have allowed Osío to become one of the regime’s favorite bankers for placing PDVSA funds abroad. In other words, the parasites of the state oil company, like Carruyo and Montes, need a banking accomplice willing to do whatever it takes to hide ill-gotten money.
THEFT FROM PDVSA RETIREES
Osío’s involvement is not just Infodio’s fabrication. Osío has been mentioned as one of the financial operators who helped defraud PDVSA retirees of $500 million in the Illaramendi case. A legal action in the United States (a commercial litigation) mentions Davos, along with Vaduz Financial Group (two of Osío’s companies), as financial conduits through which millions in bribes were paid to Juan Montes.
The lawsuit (click here to download)(link is external) claims that on December 8, 2006, one of Francisco Illarramendi’s companies transferred $126,000 to Montes through Davos International Bank, and through Vaduz Financial Corporation, $2,241,548 corresponding to “commissions” for a dubious operation executed by Illarramendi and the other gem, Moris Beracha, using PDVSA pension funds managed by Montes.
The lawsuit also states that on November 13, 2007, the same company transferred $2,500,000 via Davos International Bank to Montes’s account, a former PDVSA executive, as commissions for another similar transaction. In other words, for placing PDVSA money with them, Montes received a cut. Beracha, Osío, and Montes did not expect that Illaramendi would end up disgraced and prosecuted in the empire for having disappeared all that cash. In the end, thieves rob from other thieves, leaving a mess in their wake.
These bribes to Montes, identified in the legal action, exceed $5,000,000. Sometimes I like to give a concrete idea of what that amount means. Five million dollars is equivalent to the minimum wage of over a thousand Venezuelans working a full year. In other words, the majority of those you see in line at the bus stop or metro, pick any one of them, and imagine that they would have to work 1,200 years to earn what the unfortunate Juan Montes, a government official, enjoys as his “commission,” for which he never worked a day in his life—he just sent a deposit to a friend of Osío.
Some time ago, my uncle (the exile in Miami for having been at Miraflores on April 11—he didn’t even sign anything!) brought us copies of a Miami newspaper called El Venezolano. There is where I first saw the name Osío and his group of bankers. Although those reports mysteriously disappeared from the internet, after much searching I managed to find them. I’m sharing them here for you to see.
One article titled “How the Money of the Chavezbourgeoisie Moved” (p. 3) published on March 15, 2012, caught my attention. The article reveals that PDVSA funds deposited in UBS bank in Switzerland, which came through Osío with a contract from Davos Asset Management, would have exceeded $1 billion. How much of that went to accounts of PDVSA officials like Juan Montes and Eudomario Carruyo, and who knows if even Rafael Ramírez was involved? But what is clear is that Osío takes a “fee” for closing the deal. He does not carry out the theft but helps those who do, and for that, he gets a nice cut. If Carruyo is the robber, Osío is the getaway driver.
President Maduro claims he wants to fight against corruption. Has he said anything about Davos? Carruyo? Beracha? Silence.
DAVOS-STYLE PUBLIC RELATIONS
But El Venezolano isn’t the only newspaper that published articles about Osío and later had to remove them. The now disgraced Venezuelan newspaper 6to Poder, run by pseudo-journalist Leocenis García, used to publish a column titled “Davos Observer,” which was written by David Osío himself. This column was shared on Twitter by the 6to Poder account. Here’s a tweet from Leocenis announcing Osío’s new article:
It is known that 6to Poder was a magazine that, depending on the month and the economic needs of its Director, published either in favor or against certain people for extortion purposes. Leocenis is sometimes a journalist, sometimes a blackmailer, sometimes a champion of free speech, sometimes a boliburgues and today seems to be a political prisoner.
In some of his escapades, it seems Leocenis had a falling out with Osío and not only stopped publishing his column but also decided to damage him and began extorting him by publishing articles that exposed his corrupt activities.
Magically, all those articles are now missing from the internet. Perhaps Osío and Leocenis finally reached a “friendly” agreement. What’s fascinating is that in January 2012 Osío wrote for Leocenis’s paper, and by March of the same year, Leocenis had him labeled as a cunning thief. How things change, right?
ANDRES COLES: THE CHAVISMO’S STEWARD IN NEW YORK
Andrés Coles deserves a separate mention. An employee of Osío and a member of the Venezuelan high society, he fits perfectly into what we at Infodio call “the society of accomplices.” Coles studied at Babson University (entered on recommendation from a CAP apostle) and moves like a fish in water in New York. Coles handles Davos’s affairs in NY and is the main assistant in all transactions.
Andrés Coles, steward in New York for PDVSA banker David Osío. Photo courtesy of Babson College
Coles comes from a prosperous working-class family. People of “good standing,” as they say. He was born in the Country Club, near the San Ignacio Shopping Center, and the house he lived in bordered the golf course of the country club. His father was one of the few untarnished ministers of the Fourth Republic, a serious person with moral and business conduct in Mavesa, the kind that builds a nation. When asked about Coles, a mutual acquaintance comments in the country club locker room that “David bought Andrés.” He said it fearlessly in front of Belisario. That Andrés Coles would serve as the steward for the Chavistas in the Davos office in New York is something that has left even his own family perplexed—both his blood relatives and his marital connections. It is hard to understand how someone who grew up with an economic mindset departing from CEDICE ends up being a key player in the country’s plunder.
THE MUD IN WASHINGTON: IT BELONGS TO OSÍO
David Osío is an American resident, at least on paper. However, several people writing to me have said that doubts exist about his tax situation with the empire. While Osío claims to manage billions of dollars, the financial results of his companies in the United States and the taxes they pay do not seem to correspond with these amounts. As an American resident, Osío should pay taxes on all his assets anywhere in the world. To avoid this, a close associate claims he has made his mother, Mrs. I. Montiel, the owner of many of these companies, thinking that this way Osío could fool the American tax authorities.
To justify his tax situation, Osío hired the representative of the Mesa de la Unidad in Washington DC, Leopoldo Martínez Nucete. As Alek Boyd published some time ago, Martinez Nucete is part of Osío’s team. Leopoldo Martínez’s story deserves a separate chapter, and I hope to dedicate time to it in the future.
DAVOS AND THE ELECTRIC BOLICHICOS OF DERWICK
In the lawsuit initiated by former Ambassador Otto Reich against the bolichicos of Derwick Associates, Davos is mentioned as one of the banks managing the bolichicos’ money. This website has received information indicating that David Osío personally handled the accounts of Alejandro Betancourt and the bolichicos. Osío has several employees, but none have permission to even speak with Betancourt when he came to the Davos office in Caracas.
FAITHFUL DEVOTEE TO A BOLIBURGUE’S COMMANDMENTS
Osío’s profile almost perfectly fits the 12 commandments of every Venezuelan boliburgue, published in Infodio some days ago (to our surprise, Ambassador Cochez wrote an article in El País mentioning the commandments). Let’s consider Osío and how much he adheres to the boliburgues religion:
The first commandment states: If you can’t hit it off honestly, then bribe government officials to secure public contracts at absurdly inflated prices.
It’s clear that Osío has paid bribes to officials like Juan Montes in exchange for lucrative deposits. Aside from Montes, Osío’s depositors are a list of the worst of the boliburgue society.
Commandment 2: Once you have your first 100 “sticks,” call old childhood friends now working in Wall Street banks.
In this case, Osío is the childhood banker in question. But when it comes to Switzerland, he certainly has his own connections with people like Charles Henry de Beaumont of CBH Bank (the favorite Swiss bank of the Chavistas). Osío also moves a lot of money to Banesco in Panama.
Commandment 3: Buy yourself a little airplane.
Osío owns a Cessna 560XL Citation Excel registered in the US with tail number N507D:
Commandment 4: After building your mansion in Caracas, buy luxury properties in other capitals like Miami, New York, and somewhere in Europe.
Osío owns properties in Miami, New York, Geneva, Paris, Caracas, and Los Roques. He loves spending weekends in places like St. Tropez and Turks and Caicos, where he recently bought multimillion-dollar properties.
Commandment 7: Start an NGO.
Osío has opened his own foundation in Florida called Davos Financial Foundation for the Development of Economies and Arts, supposedly dedicated to art (but it’s not registered as a non-profit with the American tax authority) and is one of the financiers behind the Washington DC NGO Center for Development and Democracy in the Americas, directed by Leopoldo Martínez. Look at the following tweet, how transparent and flattering Leopoldo Martínez is. Lourdes Ubieta, a Venezuelan journalist, sends greetings to Osío for a recognition he bought (which turned out to be fake), and Martínez immediately shares it with his followers:
Commandment 9: Hire some Republican and Democrat lobbyists in Washington to ensure your social connections in the empire are well protected.
Osío employs the law firm Tew-Cardenas, whose main partner is Al Cárdenas, one of the leaders of the Republican Party. They are also the lawyers for the bolichicos Derwick, Ricardo Fernández Barruecos, and even the criminals from Banco Latino. Aside from firms and representatives in Washington, Osío has also contributed to the campaigns of Barack Obama and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Republican from Florida). What do the Chavista hierarchy think about Osío’s contributions…
Commandment 10: Clean up your reputation and harass anyone who might expose the truths of your shady dealings.
Osío personally, and Martínez from Washington, use intimidation as a mechanism to silence their critics. Without mentioning the name of one of their victims, I can attest that Osío has sent threatening letters to people who have spoken negatively against him. In one case, the person just posted a tweet and immediately Osío started bombarding them with a two-page letter demanding a retraction.
Commandment 11: Pay journalists to write positive things about you and your social conscience.
As we have shown, at least two newspapers have had to “delete” articles about Osío from their websites. Not only that. Osío has also made it a point to publicize the “medal” he bought everywhere. Some pages like Business Wire still have the published article with that information. Others, like Market Watch, apparently realized the absurdity of the matter and decided to erase it. What matters is that for Osío, even if the medal disappears and the press releases are removed, he will always have this photo and some tweets for PR as a memento.
In short, David Osío is a glaring model of the corruption of the Fifth Republic. He’s not a person of intellectual depth, nor a successful professional. David Osío is a mediocre, pretentious individual who is rolling in money solely because he aided in the pillaging of Venezuela. His exceptional talent lies in corrupting and having no limits when committing financial sins. The reality of the shenanigans that he and his boss have pulled off is still unknown, but should someone put a stop to it, perhaps the narrative will become part of the historical archive of a future Venezuela that will need to create a museum of corruption to document the unprecedented case of the most corrupt government in Venezuela’s history. Who knows, they might even seize Osío’s enormous collection of Cruz Diez, bought with money looted from the nation.
By Tomás Lander