After publishing about David Boies‘ complaints regarding this site, a source sent me the incorporation document shown in the image. It is connected to Mirabal, Salinas & Asociados, the private practice of Venezuela’s Minister of Mines, Roberto Mirabal – the actual title is Minister of People’s Power for Ecological Development of Mines, whatever that means.
The address in Caracas is listed as Edificio Parque Cristal, Torre Este, Piso 13, Oficina 13-10. A quick Google search reveals a surprising result: Lloyd’s List has the same address as Global Ship Management, one of the companies owned by Wilmer Ruperti.
Lloyd’s is not the only source that includes Ruperti’s Global Ship Management address in the Mirabal incorporation document: Venezuela’s Maritime Institute (INEA) also has details of this address related to Suramericana de Transporte Petrolero, Latin American Petroleum International Services of Venezuela, and Naviera Continental de Transporte, all connected to Ruperti.
Other sources have informed this site that Roberto Mirabal is known to Bill Duker, and was involved in providing some sort of legal opinion regarding the establishment of the PDVSA US Litigation Trust. Reportedly, Mirabal acted as a liaison between Venezuela’s Attorney General, Reinaldo Muñoz, and David Boies’ associates.
There are several issues here: aside from sharing office space with Ruperti, why would Mirabal be allowed to engage with PDVSA matters? It’s not that PDVSA lacks legal counsel. Why would Mirabal act as an intermediary between Duker and Muñoz?
Mirabal is basically – yet another – chavista upstart taking advantage of rampant corruption. According to sources, he honed his skills as legal counsel for Tibisay Lucena (Venezuela’s electoral chief). Mirabal’s legal practice isn’t the only front operating from Ruperti’s office; he is also linked to another company, called Ingeniería Ventuari C.A., which also operates from Ruperti’s premises. Frankly, we didn’t know Ruperti had ventured into office leasing, although we see the benefit of having Mirabal under the same roof: Ruperti basically knows in advance who’s going to win elections in Venezuela, and in exchange, Mirabal gets involved in totally corrupt deals with PDVSA far beyond his level.
This site has been trying to get a word from Ruperti, who after an initial response quoting Greek philosophers, mentioned he would consider sending his thoughts. As of writing this article, there’s been crickets…