Bloomberg reported in late October that Matthias Krull, the banker at the center of the $1.2 billion PDVSA money laundering scandal alongside Francisco Convit, reportedly tearfully told the court, “I apologize for making a bad decision. I pray and hope they don’t see me as a bad person.” However, Krull’s crocodile tears stand in stark contrast to his banking career, which appears to be a series of poor decisions. Leaked information to this site reveals that, in February 2010, Krull acted as the leader for Miguel Ángel Capriles López (also known as Michu). We are discussing this Miguel Ángel Capriles López, an individual who allegedly stole more than $500 million (according to estimates from this site). Internal communications from Julius Baer involving Krull made it clear that Michu’s looted fortune was, in fact, “around $650 million” (sic).
Krull set up an agreement whereby Credit Suisse, represented in the deal by Tino Sangiorgio, would transfer the funds from the settlement to the victims of Michu’s criminal activities. Why would Credit Suisse – bankers for Michu – hand over to Julius Baer under Krull’s management the chance to bring in new wealthy clients?
The name of Matthias Krull later surfaced in the context of the PDVSA US Litigation Trust. Krull, referred to as a “star incorporator,” along with his colleague Patrick Feuz, who was also involved in the Michu-related deal, acted as bankers for Helsinge Inc., the main defendant in the claims filed by the PDVSA US Litigation Trust. Documents reviewed by this site show that Helsinge transferred bribery payments from Julius Baer to representatives of Tareck el Aisami in July 2017. By late October 2013, the OFAC-designated kingpin, el Aisami, acquired Cadena Capriles from Michu.
Individuals familiar with Helsinge’s operations later claimed that Helsinge had lines of credit with Gazprombank, a partner of Convit involved in a shell company named Gazprombank Latin America Ventures NV that was used to establish a joint venture, Petrozamora, with PDVSA, where Gazprombank is the minority shareholder.
Matthias Krull likely incorporated Francisco Convit while he was at Julius Baer. His access to completely corrupt Boligarchs / Bolichicos can be easily explained by his background in Venezuela. Sources consulted by this site claim that Charles Henry de Beaumont, a banker involved in a previous money laundering scheme of over $4 billion at PDVSA (also mentioned in Factual Profer), transferred payments to companies controlled by Convit at Julius Baer.
At EFG Bank, a confidential source in the Convit case, Pedro Binaggia, acted as the shipping man, bringing in Convit and his partner Alejandro Betancourt, as well as Raúl Gorrín and Luis Oberto. Krull served as Convit’s banker just like Binaggia and Beaumont.