The figure is shocking, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. The 700 million dollars in assets seized by the United States Government from the network of the Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro have shaken public opinion, but for experts, this amount is barely “the pocket change,” the loose change. According to a thorough report from the Transparencia Venezuela in exile, chavista corruption has looted the country to such an extent that the list of assets identified in 20 countries amounts to the staggering 3.826 billion dollars. A fortune that has been amassed while the Venezuelan population faced the most basic shortages.
This astonishing inventory of ill-gotten goods, compiled up to May 2024 through judicial sources, control bodies and the press, is a map of the most ostentatious extravagance: luxury mansions, yachts, high-end cars, competition horses and collections of watches valued in millions. All of it hidden through a global financial network that has exploited the opacity of tax havens and the gaps in financial systems to launder illicit profits.
The geography of money laundering originating in Venezuela extends across the globe, but there are preferred destinations. The Transparencia Venezuela report places the United States at the head, with 335 assets on which judicial actions have been taken. It is no coincidence, since the U.S. jurisdiction has opened more than 50 cases against former officials and businessmen of the chavista and madurista regime. But not far behind, as a corruption refuge, is Spain, with 235 assets seized, making it the second country with the most assets under judicial scrutiny. They are followed by Argentina (58), Switzerland (34), Panama (18) and Colombia (11).
These data, however, are considered by the NGO as “conservative”. Experts warn that the figures do not include the billions of euros that have yet to be uncovered, either because investigations are ongoing, or because authorities in recipient countries are still in the phase of identifying the schemes, their operators and their facilitators. It is a large-scale corruption network that has flourished while the Venezuelan humanitarian tragedy worsens.
The magnitude of the thefts by the chavista network is measured in billions. One of the most notable cases, and which has even been acknowledged by the current Venezuelan authorities, is the PDVSA Cripto scheme in 2023. This scheme of oil trading without administrative control led to a loss of 16.960 billion dollars for the public patrimony. Another example, the case known in the U.S. as “Money Flight” in 2014, involved embezzlement from the state oil company amounting to 1.200 billion dollars. In 2019, a similar investigation revealed a money-laundering scheme of 4.500 billion dollars.
Stories of corruption that have managed to come to light are filled with familiar names and obscene fortunes. An example is Alejandro Andrade, the former Venezuelan treasurer and bodyguard of Hugo Chávez, who agreed to the confiscation of his assets to reduce his sentence in the United States. The former chavista police officer handed over seven real estate properties valued at more than 36 million dollars, 17 competition horses valued at 2.6 million, a collection of 35 luxury watches and a fleet of high-end vehicles, for a total of 42.3 million dollars.
Another paradigmatic case is that of the chavista magnate Raúl Gorrín Belisario, owner of the Globovisión television channel. In 2018, U.S. justice ordered the seizure of 24 of his properties in Miami and New York. In Manhattan, it was discovered that Gorrín had owned two luxury penthouses in the exclusive The Aldyn building on the Upper East Side. A review on the RealtyHope real estate website described him as a “famous Venezuelan television magnate” who had bought a penthouse for 6.45 million dollars and sold it six years later for 8.6 million. Celebrities such as former baseball player Alex Rodríguez and former NBA player and coach Jason Kidd also resided in the same building.
The Transparencia Venezuela report also details the typology of the seized assets. In dollars, 94.88% corresponds to money in bank accounts, followed by real estate (4.19%) and luxury vehicles (0.24%). In euros, the money and banks category also leads the list with 76.08%, followed by real estate (20.95%).
Given the magnitude of the recovered money, and the risk that it could be diluted into state general funds, Transparencia Venezuela and other organizations have proposed the creation of an independent fund to manage these resources. The initiative seeks to ensure that the confiscated money is used to help the most vulnerable Venezuelans. This fund, which would require the “goodwill of several governments,” would be responsible for unifying the assets dispersed across different jurisdictions under a transparent model that guarantees their proper administration.
The urgency of this discussion is evident. The tragedy of corruption has left Venezuela in a critical situation, and the recovery of these assets is one of the few hopes to mitigate the suffering of millions of people. However, the battle against money laundering does not end with the seizure of the assets. The fight continues in offices, in courts and in international forums, so that the proceeds of corruption return to the rightful hands of those who genuinely need them: the Venezuelan people.
