Photo: Nueva Prensa América
The prestigious British publication Financial Times has conducted an extensive investigation into the donations made by Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini to the Conservative Party (Tory), particularly during Boris Johnson’s campaign. According to the report authored by Cynthia O’Murchu, Stefania Palma, and Jasmine Cameron-Chileshe, since Johnson took office at 10 Downing Street in 2019, Herrera Velutini has donated over half a million pounds.
The donations were made through Britannia Financial Group, a financial services firm established by Velutini in 2016, initially named Helvetica Financial Group.
The UK is not the only country where Velutini is financially supporting politicians. Recently, the US Department of Justice revealed accusations against the owner and president of Bancredito International Bank and Trust, a financial institution registered in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.
A federal grand jury alleges that Velutini and four others allegedly created a bribery scheme in 2019 to benefit former Puerto Rican governor Vázquez Garced—who was arrested by the FBI and placed under house arrest last week—in exchange for halting requirements from the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF), the regulatory body, concerning numerous deficiencies and suspicious operations at Bancredito International Bank & Trust. OCIF had been investigating Bancredito since 2019 and imposed sanctions on the bank last December.
The bribes, which are estimated to range from $500,000 to almost $2 million, according to the indictment, were purportedly facilitated through donations for Vázquez Garced’s campaign and the alleged payment for the services of a London-based consulting firm specializing in political campaigns to support the former governor.
In exchange for electoral assistance, court documents indicate that Vázquez Garced secretly agreed to dismiss the head of OCIF, the regulator investigating Bancredito for severe money laundering irregularities, including violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and the Patriot Act, due to the failure to issue suspicious activity reports primarily related to transactions in Julio Herrera Velutini’s accounts.
As a foreign citizen, it was illegal for Herrera Velutini to finance a political campaign in the United States, and the indictment claims that the banker did so with the specific purpose of closing investigations by Puerto Rican financial authorities into suspicious activities at his bank, Bancredito International, where Herrera-Velutini was president and principal shareholder.
US Prosecutors Investigate Venezuelan Banker Julio Herrera Velutini
The same day the US Department of Justice unveiled the indictment, Herrera Velutini resigned from the presidency of Bancredito.
The other defendants in the conspiracy to gain control of OCIF, in addition to Velutini and Vázquez Garced, include former FBI agent Mark T. Rossini; the former governor’s advisor and lobbyist, John Blakeman; and the director of Bancredito, Frances M. Díaz Fosse. The group faces potential sentences of twenty years. The public prosecutor has initiated extradition proceedings for Herrera Velutini from the UK and for Rossini, who is believed to be in Spain. It was reported Tuesday that Rossini made himself available to US authorities while requesting to remain under surveillance in Spain for health reasons, a request that was denied.
Also on Tuesday, OCIF announced the “voluntary” liquidation of Bancredito. This process, expected to last about six months, aims to ensure that Bancredito meets its obligations to depositors and that an independent third party evaluates the transactions conducted by and through the bank from October 1, 2016, to December 17, 2020, in search of suspicious activities.
The indictment from Puerto Rico once again brings to light the controversial political financing method of the UK Conservative Party, managed by William (Ben) Elliot, nephew of Camilla, wife of Prince Charles. Since taking charge of the party’s finances in 2019, controversial donations have been accepted, including one from the wife of the former finance minister of Vladimir Putin, prompting the opposition to call for his resignation. Elliot is the founder and former director of Hawthorn Advisors, a consultancy that had Britannia Financial Group among its clients.
According to Financial Times, Britannia Financial was among the sponsors of the concert held in the UK for the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s ascent to the British throne.
English media indicate that Britannia Financial Group Limited remained inactive for a long time before filing its first audited accounts in mid-2020, when it described itself as a “holding company for global businesses within the financial services industry.”
Subsequently, the group developed a website, hired staff, and acquired a series of multimillion-dollar subsidiaries, issuing shares totaling £200 million of nominal capital value.
An analysis of Britannia FG’s previous accounts, conducted by English experts, indicates that the money entering the holding has not been generated in the UK but originates from Switzerland, due to cash injections from Herrera Velutini himself.
Public records reviewed by Cuentas Claras Digital reveal that Julio Martin Herrera resigned as director of Britannia Financial Group Limited on May 11, 2022, when the situation in Puerto Rico began to complicate.
Julio Herrera Velutini and the Venezuelan Financial Crisis of 2009
Julio Herrera-Velutini has been evading criminal proceedings in his home country for over a decade for alleged financial fraud, claiming that the charges are politically motivated.
According to sources from Venezuela’s Prosecutor’s Office, Herrera Velutini fled the country in 2009 after being summoned for questioning following the collapse of Banco Real, which he had sold to Pedro Torres Ciliberto, an ally of the Chávez regime.
In 2010, Herrera Velutini successfully filed a human rights complaint against Venezuela’s extradition requests before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, claiming to be the target of persecution by the Venezuelan regime under a “state policy of harassment and persecution of entities and individuals participating in the financial and banking sector.”
Residing in London but frequently traveling between Puerto Rico and his residences in Switzerland and Italy, Herrera Velutini has continued to engage in activities related to political financing. In 2021, when Vázquez Garced lost the elections, Herrera Velutini donated $50,000 to the campaign of Governor Pedro Pierluisi. Local media have reported on Herrera Velutini’s contributions to Puerto Rican politicians from both the Popular Democratic Party and the New Progressive Party since 2016, just a year after OCIF began identifying irregularities at Bancredito.
As stated in the book The Great Looting by Carlos Tablante and Marcos Tarre, through his dubious and irregular management of both Helm Bank and Banco Real, Herrera Velutini is one of the bankers co-responsible for the financial crisis that occurred in Venezuela between 2009 and 2011, during which the country suffered immeasurable financial damage.
We invite you to read the investigation by Cuentas Claras Digital: EThe Dark Side of the Banking Crisis 2009-2011