In the realm of independent investigative journalism, very few can match the track record of this website. It may sound boastful, but how many can claim that the investigations published over the years have resulted in arrests, charges, seizures, extraditions, bankruptcies, and actual criminal investigations across various jurisdictions? This website can. It is the only relevant brand, the only valid claim of what we do here.
At the beginning of this decade, we collaborated with the largest newspaper in Paraguay on a multimillion-dollar scam orchestrated by Marcelo Barone, one of those typical “Venezuelan businessmen” whose model is to steal, embezzle, and then pretend to have extraordinary business acumen. Our investigation received accolades, recognized as one of the best in Latin America. However, the greatest validation of our work came when Marcelo Barone and his accomplice Elisabel Vázquez were arrested in London, largely due to the information we published and provided to Paraguayan prosecutors.
Early in this decade, Derwick Associates captured our interest. It remains the largest body of work on this site. We exposed money laundering through real estate purchases, international corrupt practices, open criminality, unjustifiable partnerships, and connections to the highest levels of political power across various countries. We facilitated the delivery of substantial amounts of incriminating evidence to different investigative authorities. Initially, we were dismissed as conspiracy theorists wearing tin foil hats. Today, Francisco Convit is a fugitive wanted by the Department of Justice. Alejandro Betancourt is implicated in the same investigation, along with others, as a co-conspirator. This also applies to Orlando Alvarado, CFO of Derwick. Nervis Villalobos, Derwick’s primary provider of corrupt procurement contracts, was arrested in Spain, and dozens of his properties were seized. Javier Alvarado, another Derwick associate, was arrested in Spain for money laundering and corruption. Luis Carlos de León, another thug from the Derwick chain, was extradited from Spain to the United States, and Rafael Ramírez, the mastermind behind this entire web, is being pursued everywhere. It is just a matter of time before he becomes another scalp.
We have lost count of all the aspects of this criminal syndicate that we have dismantled over the years. As we love to say: the timeline is impeccable. We exposed FusionGPS and its connections to Derwick years before anyone had heard of Glenn Simpson, Peter Fritsch, and Tom Catan. We unveiled their participation in laundering billions of dollars years before anyone else had written a single word about it. We revealed Derwick’s connection to Gazprombank and its partnership with the FSB of Russia, a topic that, to this day, only this site has covered.
This site revealed the corruption plot of Alex Saab years before anyone had heard of him. As with Derwick, our groundbreaking investigations form the basis of a criminal indictment from the Department of Justice. Saab is now wanted by U.S. justice and the Italian Guardia di Finanza. Some of his assets in Rome were recently seized.
Luis and Ignacio Oberto Anselmi were unknown to law enforcement until we began discussing their corrupt schemes. The Oberto Anselmis have taken money laundering to new heights, surpassed only by Víctor Vargas, Juan Carlos Escotet, the Gill brothers… all connected in some way to Derwick and exposed here.
Until very recently, Víctor Vargas was destined to be a banker. Authorities from various jurisdictions have now established that he is little more than a thieving scam artist. The collapse of his “banking group” will impact interests as far-reaching as the “royalty” of France.
There is a thread that connects most international corruption scandals, and we have studied it meticulously. David Osio, Moris Beracha, Armando “coco” Capriles, Miguel Angel Capriles Lopez, Rafael Ramirez, Baldo Sanso, Neri Bonillas, EFG Bank, Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique, Helsinge, Francisco Morillo, Arturo Fasana, Baltazar Garzon, Dominic de Villepin, Rudy Giuliani, Jon Sale, Abbe Lowell, Adam Kaufmann, Brian Ballard, Anthony Scaramucci, Al Cardenas, David Boies, Pablo Iglesias, Bruno Magras, Henry Ramos Allup, Juan Guaidó, PDVSA, Glencore, Trafigura, Vitol, Lukoil, Odebrecht, Robert Hanson, Patrick Teroerde, Samark Lopez, Oswaldo Cisneros, Antonio Mugica, Wilmer Ruperti, Raul Gorrin, Torino Capital… the list of members involved in the Grand Theft of Venezuela is almost endless, although this site, in the context of investigative reporting related to Venezuela, has claimed more scalps in the last 10 years than the combined competition.
As we enter a new decade, we will continue our efforts. As false news and “exclusive” falsehoods continue to emerge, this site will keep shedding light on the biggest corruption scandal the world has never heard of, especially as it enters its second phase: the privatization of Venezuela’s assets in the Russian style.
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