The scandal known as “Pdvsa-Crypto” focuses on the multimillion-dollar cryptocurrency transactions used to evade sanctions and sustain the trade of Venezuelan oil. However, cryptocurrencies were not the only method employed in this corrupt scheme. Banks such as MBaer Merchant Bank, Emirates NBD, and Mashreq Bank are implicated in this scandal.
According to investigations carried out so far by the Venezuelan prosecutor’s office, a significant portion of payments for Venezuelan oil sales was conducted using cryptocurrencies. Initially, these transactions were estimated to be between $3 and $5 billion, but the actual figure might be three or four times higher today.
Many of these transactions were conducted through bank accounts belonging to fictitious companies located in London, Dubai, and Caribbean tax havens.
Currently, investigations point to the involvement of entities such as MBaer Merchant Bank, headquartered in Switzerland, and Emirates NBD and Mashreq Bank, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Other entities that had been involved in transactions with Pdvsa before the scandal erupted are also under scrutiny, such as the Russian bank Gazprombank, which acted as a payment receiver for Pdvsa in 2019, and China Citic Bank, where Pdvsa maintains accounts primarily for servicing the enormous debt that Venezuela has with China.
MBaer Merchant Bank, founded in Zurich just six years ago in 2018, was created by Michael Baer, whose family belongs to an old dynasty of bankers with a notably controversial history concerning Pdvsa and Venezuela.
The institution was established by Michael Baer, who previously held a senior position at Julius Baer, also based in Zurich, and is one of the great-grandsons of Julius Baer, who founded the Swiss banking dynasty in 1901.
Michael Baer separated from Julius Baer to establish MBaer Merchant Bank at a time when the family bank was experiencing one of its worst moments. Julius Baer had played a central role in corruption related to Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle more than any other bank.
Since 2014, Julius Baer facilitated its financial structure for money laundering operations linked to Pdvsa, businessman Raúl Gorrín, and three children of the regime’s First Lady, Cilia Flores.
The representative of Julius Baer in Caracas, Swiss national Matthias Krull, played a key role for several years in the finances of the Bolivarian elite until he was arrested in 2018 at Miami airport, the same year Michael Baer decided to separate from the group and establish his own path.
Since then, Krull has become a star witness, revealing unknown details about how Julius Baer facilitated hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions related to corruption for the personal finances of high-ranking Chavismo leaders.
Julius Baer was sanctioned that same year, 2018, after a thorough investigation by Finma, the regulatory body for banks in Switzerland, for its illegal operations in Venezuela, among other cases. However, it denied any responsibility in Matthias Krull’s case, arguing that the executive had acted independently.
Michael Baer was not directly involved in the management of Julius Baer’s operations in Venezuela. According to his LinkedIn profile, he worked at Julius Baer until 2005 and then focused on other financial projects. At the time Matthias Krull was diligently serving his Boliburgues clients in Caracas, Michael Baer was leading a series of financial institutions in Europe and the Middle East.
From 2006, after leaving Julius Baer, he served as president of Baer Capital Partners, a financial entity based in Dubai, a position he still holds today.
From that same year until 2016, he was president of Charlemagne Capital, a company registered in the Isle of Man, known as a British tax haven. Between 2014 and 2016, he was president of Arner Bank, a banking entity based in Lugano, Switzerland.
While Swiss and US regulatory authorities were investigating the abuses of Julius Baer in Venezuela and in Switzerland (which was also involved in corruption cases related to FIFA), Michael Baer founded his own bank, MBaer Merchant Bank, in Zurich.
Interestingly, in 2021, Michael Baer allowed Norwegian Siri Evjemo-Nysveen, wife of operator Alessandro Bazzoni, sanctioned by OFAC and one of the implicated participants, to join MBaer Merchant Bank’s board of directors.
In her LinkedIn profile, Evjemo-Nysveen presents herself as a founding partner of Clareville Grove Capital LLP, based in London, and the investment fund CGC One Planet. Furthermore, she claims to have over 20 years of experience in banking investments.
Evjemo-Nysveen’s inclusion in the bank is seen as representative of the interests of her husband, Alessandro Bazzoni, who profited extensively from Pdvsa’s crude oil brokering and sales operations, according to sources close to the Italian operator.
However, after the scandal erupted in March of this year, MBaer Merchant Bank removed Evjemo-Nysveen from the board of directors, at least according to information available on the bank’s website, where she no longer appears as an active member.
According to OFAC, Alessandro Bazzoni took control of the finances managed by Saab after his arrest in Cabo Verde in June 2020 (and subsequent extradition to Miami in April 2021).
Investigations indicate that Bazzoni leveraged his privileged position as a high financial operator in Maduro’s regime to access the oil quotas that Pdvsa sought to sell in international markets.
Alessandro Bazzoni played a key role in helping Pdvsa sell numerous oil shipments while evading sanctions imposed by the United States on the state-owned oil company in 2019. His direct contact at Pdvsa was retired Colonel Antonio Pérez Suárez, a powerful Vice President of Trade and Supply at Pdvsa, regarded as an ally and protégé of Tareck El Aissami, the former Minister of Oil who is now in disgrace.
Due to his links with this corruption case, the Attorney General’s Office of Venezuela recently issued an arrest warrant against Bazzoni.
Important questions arise: Was Evjemo-Nysveen’s departure a direct consequence of the accusations involving her husband, Alessandro Bazzoni, with Pdvsa’s corruption? Does Bazzoni still hold significant investments or accounts in MBaer Merchant Bank? How did MBaer Merchant Bank participate in the irregular payment schemes related to the buying and selling of Venezuelan oil?
Investigations continue to unveil the complex financial networks used to facilitate corruption in Pdvsa and evade international sanctions. It is crucial for the competent authorities to persist in their efforts to dismantle these illegal schemes and hold all involved accountable. Justice must prevail to ensure a more transparent and ethical future in Venezuela’s oil sector.