The Prosecutor’s Office requested sentences of not less than 23 years and 5 months in prison for the former national treasurer of Venezuela Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillén, and of not less than 19 years and 5 months for her husband, Adrián José Velásquez Figueroa, convicted of money laundering. money in the US
This is indicated by the latest judicial document in the case of the two Venezuelan citizens, who were extradited to the US from Spain in 2022 and tried that same year in the courts of Fort Lauderdale (South Florida) and will receive their sentences this Wednesday, the 19th. April if there is no other new postponement.
The document signed, among others, by Glenn S. Leon Markenzy Lapointe, head of the fraud section of the US Attorney General’s Office, sets out the reasons why, in his opinion, Díaz Guillén and Velásquez Figueroa should be punished with a severe sentence by Judge William P. Dimitrouleas.
“The nature and circumstances of his involvement in a massive laundering and bribery scheme involving over $1 billion in bonds and over $100 million in bribery payments warrant a significant sentence,” the 23-page document reads. .
The Prosecutor’s Office says that no less than 283 months in prison for her and no less than 235 months for him “would be enough and no more than necessary” given the seriousness of the crimes committed.
To this would be added the confiscation of their properties and fines.
Díaz Guillén and Velásquez Figueroa were trusted people of Hugo Chávez – they are known as the “nurse” and the “bodyguard” of the president of Venezuela who died in 2013 – and they settled in Spain in 2016, they allege, because they were persecuted by the current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Both have dual nationality, Venezuelan-Spanish.
The Prosecutor’s Office estimates that they obtained at least 136 million profits as a result of their participation in the corruption plan based on the exchange control system of Venezuela.
“In the heart” of corruption in Venezuela
On December 13, the trial jury found Díaz Guillén guilty of two of the three charges against him and Velásquez Figueroa guilty of three charges.
Lawyers for the couple tried unsuccessfully to get Judge Dimitrouleas to accept the argument that the US government lacked “extraterritorial jurisdiction” in this case.
She was part of Chávez’s health team before being named national treasurer, a position she held from 2011 to 2013, and he was the head of security for the Venezuelan head of state from 1999 until his death in 2013.
The Venezuelan businessman Raúl Gorrín Belisario, owner and president of the Globovisión channel, is wanted by the US Justice in relation to the same facts.
According to his file, Gorrín was charged on August 16, 2017 in the Southern District of Florida with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), another of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and nine more of money laundering.
The indictment alleges that Gorrín Belisario paid millions of dollars in bribes to two high-ranking Venezuelan officials—Díaz Guillén and Alejandro Andrade Cedeño, who was also national treasurer—to obtain the rights to carry out foreign exchange transactions at favorable rates.
In addition to making money transfers to the officials, Gorrín Belisario allegedly paid them expenses related to private jets, yachts, residences, championship horses, luxury watches, and a fashion line.
Andrade Cedeño, who took up residence in the US after Chávez’s death, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018, as part of a deal that included the forfeiture of $1 billion and the forfeiture of all the assets involved in the corruption scheme.
To conceal the bribes, Gorrín Belisario made payments through multiple shell companies and allegedly partnered with others to acquire Banco Peravia, in the Dominican Republic, in order to launder the bribes paid to Venezuelan officials and the proceeds of the scheme.
By asking for harsh sentences for the marriage, the Prosecutor’s Office emphasizes that they have tried to “ignore, minimize and distract attention” from what they did and demonstrated “a lack of remorse for the crimes they committed and the damage caused as a result of their greed and abuse of power”.