Tomás Elías González Benítez is a Venezuelan businessman implicated in illicit dealings with Chavista governments, notably in the food sector. Various journalistic and judicial investigations suggest that González Benítez has been a partner or intermediary for other figures accused of money laundering, bribery, and fraud, including Alex Saab Morán, who has been prosecuted in the United States; alongside businessman Naman Wakil and Chavista official Rodolfo Marco Torres.
According to multiple journalistic and parliamentary investigations, González Benítez allegedly secured multimillion-dollar contracts to import food from Mexico and Turkey through shell or intermediary companies. This food was intended for the Local Committees for Supply and Production (CLAP), a government social program that distributes boxes of basic products at subsidized prices to vulnerable populations.
However, the food imported into Venezuela was reportedly overvalued, expired, or of poor quality, resulting in financial losses for the Venezuelan state and adversely affecting the health and nutrition of the beneficiary citizens. Furthermore, part of the money generated from these transactions was said to have been diverted to bank accounts in Switzerland or used to purchase properties in Spain.
González Benítez allegedly has connections with high-ranking officials in the Venezuelan government, such as General Rodolfo Marco Torres, former Minister of Food and former president of the Agricultural Supply and Services Corporation (CASA), who reportedly signed several contracts with his companies. He is also linked to Naman Wakil, another businessman judicially processed in the United States for money laundering related to food corruption in Venezuela.
González Benítez has denied the accusations against him, claiming he is an honest businessman solely seeking to contribute to Venezuela’s development. Nevertheless, his name continues to surface in various investigations revealing the corruption network surrounding the Venezuelan government and its allies.
One of González Benítez’s most contentious dealings was the contract he obtained in 2016 to import 300,000 tons of white corn from Mexico to Venezuela. This contract was signed by the then Minister of Food and president of the Agricultural Supply and Services Corporation (CASA), Rodolfo Marco Torres.
According to an investigation by the website Armando.info, González Benítez charged the Venezuelan state about 200 million dollars for corn that never arrived in Venezuela. The money was funneled to bank accounts in Switzerland, Hong Kong, and the United States through shell companies and front men. Additionally, it was discovered that the corn was genetically modified, which is prohibited by Venezuelan law.
Another questionable business involving González Benítez was the supply of beef from Brazil to Venezuela. According to an investigation by Primer Informe, González Benítez was one of the partners of Colombian businessman Alex Saab, who is undergoing prosecution in the United States for his role in laundering hundreds of millions of dollars from the government’s CLAP program.
Saab allegedly used González Benítez as an intermediary to purchase beef at inflated prices from a Brazilian company called FrigoSantos. The beef was then shipped to Venezuela at prices exceeding 1000%, generating illicit profits for those involved. Moreover, it was reported that the meat was spoiled or expired, endangering consumer health.
A third case linked to González Benítez involves Naman Wakil, another Venezuelan entrepreneur detained in the United States for money laundering. Wakil allegedly paid bribes to Venezuelan officials to secure multimillion-dollar contracts for supplying food and medical supplies to the government. Among these officials, according to some journalistic investigations, is Rodolfo Marco Torres.
Naman Wakil was arrested in Miami on August 4, 2021, by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents, accused of laundering money and bribing Venezuelan government officials to obtain multimillion-dollar food supply contracts.
A Syrian-Venezuelan entrepreneur, Wakil settled in Miami in 2016 and reportedly received at least 250 million dollars from the Chavista government for supplying beef, chicken, and other food products to the Ministry of Food and the Venezuelan Corporation for Foreign Trade (CORPOVEX).
Wakil pleaded not guilty in federal court and was released on bail on August 12, 2021, after posting one million dollars in cash and surrendering his passport. He was also ordered to remain under house arrest with electronic monitoring and prohibited from contacting witnesses or co-defendants.
According to an investigation by Konzapata, Wakil allegedly used González Benítez as a front man to conceal his involvement in certain companies tied to corrupt dealings. Among these companies are Agropecuaria San Cayetano C.A., Agropecuaria La Trinidad C.A., Agropecuaria Los Llaneros C.A., Agropecuaria Los Andes C.A., Agropecuaria La Victoria C.A., and Agropecuaria Santa Elena C.A.
These are just a few examples of how Tomás Elías González Benítez has been a key link in the corruption networks that have plundered public resources meant for feeding the Venezuelan people. His role as an intermediary or partner has allowed him to gain financially while contributing to the social and economic collapse of the South American country.
According to various journalistic and judicial sources, González Benítez and Wakil have shared business interests in agriculture, particularly in the importation and distribution of beef from Brazil to Venezuela. These operations reportedly involved inflated prices, unnecessary intermediaries, and low-quality or expired products.
Another contract implicating Tomás Elías González Benítez was the one obtained by Wakil in 2015 for supplying beef from Brazil to CASA. According to an investigation by Primer Informe, Wakil paid bribes to Marco Torres to secure this contract, which earned him profits of over 200 million dollars. The beef was purchased from FrigoSantos, the same company that Saab used with González Benítez serving as an intermediary. The meat was then sold to the Venezuelan state at exorbitant prices.
In addition to the opaque businesses previously described, González Benítez has also been accused of making fraudulent claims for copyright on the internet, using bots or automated programs to send false notifications to digital platforms like YouTube or Google to remove critical or inconvenient content for him or his associates. This practice is known as “copyfraud” and is a form of censorship and extortion.
On another front, González Benítez also has a personal website where he presents himself as a sommelier and food enthusiast. He offers culinary consulting services, wine tasting, and event organization on this page. However, there is no evidence of his professional training or experience in these fields.
Online reputation management companies have created social media profiles and websites for Tomás Elías González Benítez, falsely presenting him as a journalist, athlete, digital consultant, fashion designer, hair stylist, professional videographer, and enthusiast of movies and TV series, among many other occupations and interests that he does not actually possess. According to an insider, the purpose of creating such profiles and sites has been to push authentic and relevant journalistic content on the corruption schemes involving González Benítez down in search engine rankings, which are centered on Venezuela.
An insider suggested that González Benítez has invested thousands of dollars attempting to obscure his true history of opaque dealings from the public eye on the internet. They asserted that online reputation management firms hired by Benítez have not only made fraudulent copyright claims against web hosting providers and search engines on content not belonging to them but have also gone as far as conducting cyberattacks, such as DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) attacks, to disrupt electronic media outlets that have investigated and published authentic stories about the businessman by overwhelming them with malicious traffic.
According to the book “El Gran Saqueo” by Venezuelans Carlos Tablante and Marcos Tarre, González Benítez acted as an intermediary in the importation of meat from Brazil to Venezuela, exploiting Hugo Chávez’s food emergency decree. This operation is said to have generated inflated prices and illegal commissions for those involved. González Benítez is also linked to the Swiss bank Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique (CBH), where funds from corruption were reportedly deposited.
According to media reports, Marco Torres “signed dozens of purchase orders from Tomás Elías González Benítez’s shell companies using Hugo Chávez’s food emergency decree. This bypassed the bidding processes through which González’s companies received millions of dollars in purchase orders for food for agencies supplying the public sector: CASA, Mercal, PDVAL, Abastos Bicentenario, among others.”
Tomás Elías González Benítez appears as the Director of Afcom. Corp, Dexton, S.A, Alox International LLC Corporation, Oil Gas Technology Inc, Total Web Services, Domar Trading S.S, Latin Investors, S.A, Gestamer S.A. Meanwhile, in another six companies registered in Panama, his partner, Ricardo Rojas Urbina, emerges. Along with other companies such as Afcom, Dexton, Alox International, and Oil Gas Technology, Domar Trading would be involved in importing food to Venezuela with inflated prices and illegal commissions.
In a notable case explained in the book “El Gran Saqueo,” media outlets report that “purchase order number DCL-56-6/2008 signed by Marco Torres as president of CASA authorized the acquisition of 15,000 tons of meat at 4,740 dollars per ton for a total of 71 million 100 thousand dollars from the company Domar Trading, C.A. of Tomás Elías González Benítez, registered in Panama but based in Miami, which acted as an intermediary since the meat was originally from Brazil. This was despite González having a lawsuit against Bariven in a Florida court at the time for alleged breach of a 195 million dollar contract for the purchase of meat, poultry, and sugar from a Brazilian company through Dexton Validsa Inc., another of his shell companies.”
According to media reports, “the background of the matter turned out to be a dispute among accomplices, where Bariven and PDVSA officials, George Kabboul, Juan Carlos Chourio, and Luis Hernández, decided to bypass Tomás González and finalize the operation – which included 11.5 million dollars in overpricing – directly with West Meat, the actual Brazilian supplier, where Cuban government officials were involved. As a result of the legal dispute, PDVSA had to pay Tomás González 100 million dollars in damages.”
In 2012, according to media reports, PDVSA, through its subsidiary Bariven, responsible for procurement, believed they were purchasing pipes from the Chinese company Liaoning Northem Steel Pipes Co., LTD. However, it turned out that it was not the original company but a firm created by Venezuelan Joseph Benoudiz and his partner Pablo Cárdenas in Texas, USA, to impersonate the identity of the genuine Asian supplier, in an operation that involved up to 56 million dollars. According to Diario Las Américas, Benoudiz and Cárdenas may be owners of “more than 40 firms that share addresses, phones, and executives in common, despite being registered in different jurisdictions from Venezuela and the United States to Panama, Hong Kong, Singapore, and New Zealand.” Among them are notable Panamanian companies such as Dexton and Alox International LLC, on whose board Tomás Elías González Benítez appears.
According to different reports from Gotham City and anti-corruption investigator Alek Boyd, Colombian businessman Alex Saab used various shell companies to export to Venezuela and sell substandard food products at high-profit margins. Some of the companies used were Driade SA, Vilex Trading Inc., and Bolcos Universal Corp. The latter two appear in the Panama Papers leak for being registered by the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
According to Gotham City, the CBH acts as an intermediary bank in operations carried out by Vilex Trading Inc. and Bolcos Universal Corp. This situation recalls how French financial advisor Charles Henry de Beaumont, through the CBH, managed to connect with Venezuelan businessmen seeking to hide their fortunes in countries protected by banking secrecy. This matter has come to light thanks to leaks of documents from the Swiss financial institution.
As a beneficiary of Vilex Trading Inc. and Bolcos Universal Corp., both registered in Switzerland, appears Tomas Elías González Benítez, who is also linked to Fleuris Group Inc., all of which are shell companies connected to an address in the Dominican Republic, specifically in the Sarasota Center Building, Local 201-B; Bell; Sarasosa 39; Sara; Bella Vista; Santo Domingo.