The Arab citizen Neif Antonio Gebran Frangie, who has taken refuge in Miami after fleeing Venezuela, has been pointed out as having maintained a close connection with the drug trafficker Daniel “El Loco” Barrera. He is heard making fantastical claims about supposed arrests of journalists, friendships with Central American ex-presidents, and events that do not exist.
Gebran seems to believe that he can hide his former relationship with drug trafficking, just as he did in Venezuela, thanks to judicial corruption.
Through fake supporters and paid writers, Gebran claims to be a victim of alleged defamation, despite his activities and connections to drug trafficking being reported and denounced by various independent media outlets.
In 2012, the Venezuelan newspaper La Verdad, based in Maracaibo, reported that the Police were on the trail of Neif Antonio Gebran Frangie, an Arab merchant linked to the Colombian drug trafficker “Loco Barrera.” That same year, officials from the Core 4 of the Bolivarian National Guard raided Gebran Frangie’s residence in the Lara state.
The newspaper El Impulso reported that during the raid, they seized an M-16 rifle caliber 5.56 millimeters, two 12-gauge shotguns (one of which was sawed-off), a .38 caliber revolver, and a 9mm pistol. They collected 135 rounds of 9mm ammunition, 15 rounds of .38, and five rounds of 5.56mm.
Authorities found 31 seals from different customs offices, which they suspect were used to pass imported vehicles as if they entered Venezuela legally. They confiscated 11 imported cars valued at 25 million bolivars and located a Cessna-style airplane.
At the scene, they detained Antonio Nayef Gebran Nasinaf, the merchant’s father, and the guard Honorio Jesús Iturbe Reyes, both 63 years old. Gebran Frangie was not found.
Up until now, Gebran has not explained why all those weapons were in his residence nor is it normal for someone in Venezuela who is not related to criminality and doesn’t belong to a security agency to possess a military weapon like an M-16 rifle.
Even the investigative journalism outlet Armando.info has pointed out that Gebrán was linked to the case of Colombian drug trafficker Daniel Barrera Barrera, known as El Loco Barrera, who was captured on September 18, 2012, in Venezuela, in the city of San Cristóbal, located in the Táchira state near the Colombian border.
According to file KP01-P-2012-20508 from the Criminal Cassation Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice, dated August 15, 2013, more actions were accumulated against Gebrán, who already had an arrest warrant because he allegedly facilitated the escape of several accomplices of El Loco Barrera on a plane he owned. Additional remarks in the judicial document indicate the raid on a property owned by Gebrán in Barquisimeto, where “several luxury vehicles, high-caliber firearms, documents, and seals from different state agencies” were found. He was also charged because he “possessed a patrimonial mass inconsistent with the legal activities he carried out, as he handled large sums of cash and owned many properties,” as pointed out by Armando.info. Yet, Gebran Frangie has not provided explanations for any of these either.
“On October 2 of this year, this Prosecutor’s Office received communication NRO. ONA-P-O-4334, dated 01/10/2012, signed by General Edylberto Molina Molina, Deputy Director of the National Anti-Drug Office, which includes CONFIDENTIAL REPORT NRO. ONA-RO-050, dated 01/10/2012, providing information from an unidentified person who feared future reprisals stating that Neif Antonio Gebran Frangie, holder of identity card Nro. V-12.399.361, resides in a mansion next to Restaurant Tiuna on Lara Avenue, Parish of Santa Rosa, Municipality of Iribarren, State of Lara, and possesses two (2) airplanes in his name and on one of them he “…flew from Barquisimeto to FANNY VALENCIA DE ESTRADA, LILIANA ESTRADA VALENCIA, EDILBERTO ESTRADA VALENCIA, and the two minor children of LILIANA ESTRADA VALENCIA and GERMAN ARTURO ARENAS RODRIGUEZ…”
The content of the accusations from the Venezuelan Public Ministry against him can be found in the case file. It states:
“On October 9, 2012, officials from the Citizen Security Detachment Lara (DESUR-LARA) of the Bolivarian National Guard executed a search warrant at the property located on Lara Avenue next to Restaurant Tiuna, Barquisimeto, State of Lara, where citizen NEIF ANTONIO GEBRAN FRANGIE, holder of identity card Nro. V-12.399.361, resides. Five (5) firearms were seized, including an M16 rifle, nine (9) vehicles of various brands such as BMW, LAMBORGHINI, HUMMER, PORSCHE, MUSTANG, CAMARO, JEEP, all imported and of which the legitimate origin is unknown, as well as 30 seals from various state agencies such as SENIAT, BOLIVARIAN NATIONAL GUARD, CUSTOMS, CONSULATES IN THE UNITED STATES, NOTARIES, among others.
The citizen NEIF ANTONIO GEBRAN FRANGIE, holder of identity card Nro. V-12.399.361, linked to citizen Daniel Barrera Barrera alias “El Loco Barrera,” handles large amounts of money and assets that are proceeds of the illicit activities to which the latter is engaged, such as drug trafficking and money laundering.
The Public Ministry considers that sufficient evidence exists to impose personal coercive measures against citizen NEIF ANTONIO GEBRAN FRANGIE, holder of identity card Nro. V-12.399.361, as well as real measures…”
In 2018, Frank López Ballesteros, a journalist for Diario Las Américas in Miami, pointed out:
“Antonio Gebran Frangie, who has an arrest warrant in Venezuela, accused of being a frontman for Colombian kingpin “Loco Barrera,” would have sought protection under the pretense of being a political persecuted by Hugo Chávez, but is actually linked to his regime through a mafia. Prosecutors in the U.S. are investigating him.
More than luxury, Antonio Gebran Frangie was enchanted by eccentric collectible cars from well-known brands. That is why, on the afternoon of October 9, 2012, Venezuelan National Guard officers were left astonished when they arrived at his residence in the western city of Barquisimeto and found the high-end vehicles that this Venezuelan businessman owned.
That day, Gebran Frangie was accused by General Néstor Reverol, director of the National Anti-Drug Office (ONA), of cooperating and managing part of the loot of the powerful Colombian kingpin Daniel Barrera Barrera, alias “Loco Barrera,” detained in September 2012 in Venezuela and extradited the following year to Colombia, and then to the United States.
The businessman has an outstanding arrest warrant in Venezuela since 2012, after being accused by the Public Ministry of being one of “Loco Barrera’s” frontmen, and “managing large amounts of money and assets that are the proceeds of illicit activities,” which is why his properties were confiscated.
Days after this incident, Tony Gebran— as his acquaintances call him— left for the U.S. and allegedly sought asylum in Miami. Presumably, he presented himself to the authorities as a “political persecuted” of the Hugo Chávez regime. However, what he may not have disclosed during his immigration case was the background that supposedly connected him with the dark side of the Bolivarian regime and the mafia.
Existing evidence regarding the activities of the Arab trader allowed U.S. prosecutors to piece together how several drug traffickers, including “Loco Barrera” and Venezuelan narco Walid Makled, managed to launder large fortunes from Venezuela through personal alliances with established businessmen in the South American country, Panama, Andorra, the Dominican Republic, China, and some tax havens, revealed an investigation by DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS.
Agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and prosecutors in Miami are allegedly investigating the ties that Gebran may have had with former Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami and one of his frontmen, businessman Samark López Bello.
These connections allegedly date back long before the current number two of the Venezuelan regime served as Minister of the Interior (2008-2012) and later as governor of Aragua state (2012-2017) in the country’s central region.
In January 2017, the Treasury Department sanctioned El Aissami for “providing assistance to drug trafficking” in connection with powerful international kingpins, including “Loco Barrera.” López Bello was also listed as “frontman” for the Vice President.
For decades, “Loco Barrera” produced hundreds of tons of cocaine in Colombia and transported it to various parts of the world, including the U.S., generating tens of millions of dollars in profits from this activity, in alliance with Colombian guerrillas. After his capture in Venezuela, his empire began to crumble, and he has reportedly revealed a lot to U.S. prosecutors.
According to records from the state of Florida, prior to his stay in Miami, Gebran partnered with Venezuelan entrepreneurs and established at least half a dozen companies in various sectors.
Some of these companies, whether operational or not, are under his ownership or in partnerships with relatives and friends whose names appear in the Venezuelan case records. U.S. prosecutors would already be handling the case.
In fact, the name of one of his associates appears in the case file opened in Venezuela, and although Gebran has denied any connection, federal and commercial records from Florida expose financial ties to “Loco Barrera.”
Allegations against Gebran— which this newspaper accessed but whose sources remain confidential— indicate that he became an importer of luxury vehicles, which he provided to his contacts to launder money and obtain favors.
Miami prosecutors supposedly possess evidence and testimonies suggesting that Gebran moved enormous amounts of money through different companies, banks, and “holdings,” using López Bello to carry out several operations. A key company is Yakima Oil Company, established in Panama and the United Kingdom, which was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2017.
“Gebran does not appear in the records of Yakima Oil Company, though it wasn’t necessary for him to be listed in the operations, as other companies were used that indirectly worked with López’s companies, handling only cash, which was often flown to Venezuela under Gebran’s custody,” stated one witness who preferred anonymity for safety reasons.
“Gebran brought down the money from the U.S. on planes; that was one of his jobs,” he noted.
According to the same account, when Venezuelan authorities opened the case against Gebran on October 9, 2012, in addition to seizing high-end vehicles like Mercedes Benz, Hummer, Porsche, Jeep, Camaro, and BMW—which he couldn’t prove the legality of, according to the official accusation— inspection revealed material for falsifying official documents and high-caliber firearms.
Among seals from a dozen state agencies (National Guard, police bodies, customs, tax office, ports), what most concerned Venezuelan authorities was the possession of letterheads from various Venezuelan consulates in the U.S., including that of Miami, which was closed in January 2012 by Chávez’s orders.
This last element, along with other serious allegations and evidence, would have added to Gebran’s offenses for which U.S. prosecutors could act exercising their authority. Public records show that no formal case is currently open.
In an initial contact from this newspaper to gather his impressions on the investigation, Gebran denied the accusations against him and linked them to a campaign by his enemies: “I do not know Tareck El Aissami. I do not know Loco Barrera, nor do I have planes.” He did not respond to further calls and messages to elaborate on some issues.
The main ruling from Venezuelan justice against Gebran was that, together with his partner, Rodolfo Raschid Velasco Kassem, he facilitated one of his two supposed private planes to Germán Arenas Rodríguez and his wife—also accused of being frontmen for “Loco Barrera”—for their flight from the authorities.
In Arenas’ particular case, the Venezuelan Public Ministry has not yet presented a conclusive act for his case. He remains an accused or indicted for having committed a crime, but for health reasons, he was granted a humanitarian release.
Following a defense, allegedly financed by Gebran to clear his name, which argued that he was accused without concrete evidence, over the past few years, judicial resources, interviews, and news articles have emerged aiming to present him as a political persecuted by the chavismo.
Velasco Kassem was arrested by Venezuelan police and placed in custody in January 2013. After spending nearly four years in jail, he achieved conditional release after a public trial. At that time, Gebran was already in the U.S., and in light of his flight and the collected evidence, Venezuelan authorities requested the issuance of an Interpol Red Notice for his arrest.
According to the Venezuelan justice file, the case centers around the use of an aircraft belonging to Gebran, through which a frontman for “Loco Barrera” allegedly escaped from the country.
The Venezuelan anti-drug office seized two airplanes that were in the businessman’s hangar at the main airport serving the city of Barquisimeto, located in northeastern Venezuela. Among them was the one used for the frontman’s escape. This is where the story begins, revealing a series of mysteries surrounding Gebran that end up cornering him.
The two aircraft with U.S. registration were a Gates Lear Jet, model 25C, registration N611CH, owned by Gallery Aviation INC, a company based in Miami; and a Cessna 421C, registration N25MT, belonging to Luxury Auto Sales USA INC, also registered in this city.
Both companies, now inactive, are represented by Venezuelan-American citizen Nicolás Aular Parra, whose connection with Gebran was denied throughout the judicial process in Venezuela. However, commercial records in Florida contradict this version.
For six years, Aular Parra has maintained business links with Gebran’s wife and parents in at least two companies, as well as with Gebran’s main partner, who also does business with Gebran’s family through various automotive companies.
Public records reveal that Aular Parra was involved with Gebran’s main partner in the Luxury Auto Sales company, owner of the seized Cessna plane, as noted in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) files accessed by this newspaper through an official request.
“The strategy of Gebran and his partner was that, using Aular Parra, they would claim the planes confiscated by Venezuela, and to do this, the Venezuelan-American was linked to Luxury Auto Sales a year after the incident, to exert more pressure since he was a U.S. national,” a source with access to case documents recounted.
The records of the Lear Jet 25C, allegedly used for the escape of the frontmen, according to the Venezuelan accusation, show that on May 24, 2011, the service company Noble Jet, Inc., from Fort Lauderdale, submitted an invoice for the maintenance of this plane to Inverso Gebran C.A, a company owned by Gebran registered in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
The cost amounted to $61,605.34, a sum that at that time had not been paid. In this regard, Gebran was at least responsible for maintaining one of the airplanes mentioned in the case.
In Miami, prosecutors would learn that the aircraft in question were frequently used by Gebran and his family for trips between Venezuela and the U.S., and this would be the key reason why Venezuelan anti-drug authorities confiscated them, considering him a frontman for “Loco Barrera.”
In 2014, after a complex drug trafficking case that splashed onto Gebran, one of the pilots who previously flew planes for him was arrested and prosecuted in the U.S. His allegations could testify to the use and ownership of the planes at the service of the businessman.
The mystery surrounding the twin-engine aircraft grew on August 25, 2015, when the FAA received a petition to change the registration of the Gates Lear Jet (used for the alleged escape of the frontmen), transferring it from the control of Gallery Aviation Inc. to the ownership of trustee Solomon Mark Trustee in Delaware.
States like Delaware require little information about corporate members and provide more privacy with tax benefits. However, in the Delaware Division of Corporations, some records are public. In this case, the search yielded no information about Solomon Mark Trustee that matched FAA reports.
“Gebran and his main partner in the U.S. resorted to the figure of a third party, who ended up being a partner of both, in an effort aimed at detaching the two seized aircraft from events related to illegal drug trafficking activities and thus exempt Gebran from any criminal liability,” a judicial source familiar with the process narrated.
In early 2011, groups of companies were allegedly created in Miami and China to move and hold illicit funds, and one of these would include Gebran.
Latam Technological Solutions LLC, registered in Miami by Antonio Arvelaiz and with branches in Hong Kong, was said to have moved significant amounts of illegal money. Later, under the names of this businessman and Gebran, a company providing drilling parts, located in China, allegedly emerged to launder money from fraudulent contracts with the state-owned Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA).
Arvelaiz Idler, a Venezuelan businessman accused of fraud and convicted in the U.S., reportedly had direct connections in business dealings with some of those involved in the investigations against El Aissami, Gebran, and chop shop frontmen.
As a dairy businessman, Arvelaiz was harassed by the Chavez regime for opposing its statist policies in the agricultural sector and the expropriations. The case resonated in the Venezuelan press.
In 2011, Arvelaiz’s home and vehicle were shot at by unknown parties. After fleeing to the U.S. with his family seeking asylum, he was arrested three years later for a fraud case. He has allegedly been cooperating with authorities since then.
The core of Gebran’s business between Venezuela and the U.S. would be importing high-end vehicles, which were introduced and paid for in dollars within the South American country, despite the stringent exchange controls in place there.
For three years now, Gebran has been on the radar of a group of money laundering investigators in Venezuela, who have obtained evidence of his operations and contacts.
Regarding this convoluted importation task from Miami, U.S. prosecutors would be aware of the relationship between Gebran and Luis Alfredo Véliz, a former official of the Venezuelan Consulate in Miami, who is under investigation for a series of frauds reported against him.
Véliz, a member of the Venezuelan army who served as a collaborator for then-Consul General of Venezuela in Miami, Antonio Hernández Burgo, facilitated the shipment of vehicles of dubious origin to Venezuela disguised within luggage, with Gebran being the beneficiary,” one testimony indicated.
Venezuelan authorities confirmed the illicit operations surrounding Gebran regarding vehicle imports when they formalized the case to issue the Interpol Red Notice ordering his arrest “because it was determined that… he is involved in the importation of vehicles of dubious origin,” stated the judicial document.
A batch of these luxury cars was seized within the framework of the criminal case followed against the businessman in Venezuela. In exchange for these businesses, “Véliz received lucrative commissions by participating in the sale of the vehicles,” one source cited.
Luxury yacht and vehicle dealerships in various locations in Miami would have been used to purchase at least a dozen vehicles, according to case reports. The acquisitions included BMW, Porsche, Range Rover, Ferrari, Audi, as well as boats that were paid for with cash to later export them to Venezuela.
“In these operations, Mr. Véliz facilitated shipments with fraudulent acts through the Venezuelan consulate in Miami,” noted one testimony.
Accusations against El Aissami gained momentum in the U.S. as prosecutors in Miami and New York found direct or indirect connections with other drug trafficking cases implicating the chavista leader.
The DEA declined to comment on the Gebran case, but with reference to Colombian kingpin “Loco Barrera,” who had ties to El Aissami, the Treasury Department stated, “his capture and conviction to 35 years in prison was a step in the right direction,” said Melvin Paterson, a spokesperson for the anti-drug agency.
Regarding those who collaborated with Barrera’s empire, Paterson stated, “our mission is to combat criminal organizations and the key members within them, [that are] involved in the cultivation, manufacturing, or distribution of drugs… and that’s why we will bring them to justice.”
David S. Weinstein, a prominent former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, explained that “the fact that criminals don’t know they are working for the [then] Vice President doesn’t exempt them from responsibility. Due to the way the organization has been built, it generally doesn’t mean that all parts are connected to each other.”
“In fact—he added—- these organizations are very fragmented. It’s usual, and I’m not suggesting that it’s the real reason in this story, but at the top of the organization, as an atypical case, the highest ranks do not know who they are talking to, who is at the lowest end. They don’t know who runs or controls things.”
Weinstein was the head of the Narcotics Section of Miami-Dade County, and his experience has shown him that cases like Gebran’s are “typical because no one knows in the end who the ultimate boss is.”
While Gebran’s supposed asylum request is underway, considering the history of the case, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) declined to comment on these matters “so as not to compromise any case elements involving an asylum seeker and the U.S. government,” stated Ana Santiago, spokesperson for this office.
Figures from the Venezuelan opposition have been denouncing how in recent years dozens of chavista hierarchy, as well as their frontmen, have taken refuge in the U.S. under the guise of being supposed investors or exiles escaping the Venezuelan regime.
According to USCIS figures, during the first quarter of 2018, about 7,610 Venezuelans applied for political asylum in the U.S. and this group leads the list of requests for the year. Distinguishing who is honest or not is a complex task.