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Puerto Rico Bank to Pay $1 Million to Resolve Investigation Related to PdVSA Transactions

Bank of San Juan Internacional Inc. agreed to pay $1 million to resolve a federal investigation into alleged money laundering, the U.S. Department of Justice said. Prosecutors alleged that the San Juan, Puerto Rico-based bank laundered millions of dollars related to transactions and loan agreements with Venezuela’s state-owned oil giant,… Read More

Venezuela ‘dirty money’ firm gets MFSA lifeline after tribunal decision

A Maltese wealth management firm linked to an alleged conspiracy to embezzle over a billion dollars in Venezuelan oil money has been given a year to fix its anti-money laundering controls. The financial regulator was forced to revisit its decision to effectively suspend Portmann Capital’s operations indefinitely after the firm… Read More

Court convicts Belgian gold refinery Tony Goetz of money laundering

Two brothers from a Belgian gold refinery have been found guilty by a court in Antwerp of money laundering and fraud and given 18-month suspended jail sentences, a court ruling showed. The judgment comes as investigators and states increase pressure on refineries to make sure illegally mined or traded gold… Read More

6th February 2020

Venezuelan banks begin storing dollars amid Maduro’s liberalization

At least half a dozen Venezuelan banks have begun storing in vaults millions of dollars and euros accumulated in cash by businesses during an unexpected economic liberalization by President Nicolas Maduro, according to sources. Some $1.8 billion worth has entered Venezuela in the last year, according to three senior banking… Read More

31st January 2020

Regimes dodge sanctions with cryptocurrencies

By every measure, US sanctions are devastating Iran’s economy. The value of the rial has plummeted by half since 2018, when President Trump began dismantling the nuclear deal and reimposing embargoes. Food prices are spiralling, and the country’s foreign currency reserves have been slashed by a fifth since 2013. Read More

29th January 2020

Despite U.S. sanctions, a South Florida businessman is linked to Venezuela’s gold industry

A South Florida businessman is the largest owner of a joint project with the Venezuelan Ministry of Defense to process gold mined in the depths of the Amazon rainforest, despite sanctions imposed by Washington, D.C., on the entire regime of President Nicolás Maduro, as well as on the nation’s billion-dollar… Read More

28th January 2020

Companies Restructure to Escape the Brunt of U.S. Sanctions

The planned restructuring of Swedish oil refiner Nynas AB shows how some companies are trying to disentangle ownership to free themselves from U.S. sanctions. Stockholm-based Nynas this week said it would reorganize with the goal of getting out from under U.S. sanctions. The company is co-owned by Petróleos de Venezuela… Read More

23rd January 2020

Giuliani told U.S. his Venezuelan client deserves leniency in dirty money case – Parnas

At a lavish August gathering at a private estate in Spain, a wealthy Venezuelan businessman under criminal investigation in the United States introduced Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, to the father of Venezuela’s opposition leader, Juan Guaido. The affair was part of a campaign for leniency for the… Read More

21st January 2020

Ex-Portuguese minister named in €35 million corruption probe involving Venezuelan funds

Former Socialist minister António Vitorino – once tipped as a contender for party leader – is being cited by Spanish prosecutors over a “scheme of corruption and money laundering” involving more than €35 million in Venezuelan funds. Vitorino has denied the allegations, saying they are “absolutely false”. The story is… Read More

15th January 2020

Trump administration sanctions 7 Venezuelans over failed National Assembly takeover

The Trump administration has sanctioned Venezuelan officials including lawmaker Luis Parra after their failed attempt last week to forcibly seize control of the opposition-led National Assembly. Venezuela’s embattled president, Nicolas Maduro, attempt to forcibly install Parra as the new National Assembly chief on Jan. 5 while the military… Read More

14th January 2020

Haitian president defends himself against corruption allegations as he begins rule by decree

Haiti’s president has denied accusations of participating in a $2 billion (£1.5bn) corruption scheme, as he admitted on the tenth anniversary of the devastating earthquake that his country remains “in constant crisis”. Jovenel Moise on Sunday visited the memorial at the nation’s largest mass grave, where tens of thousands of… Read More

8th January 2020

U.S. mulls sanctions against Venezuelan lawmakers over bid to seize congress – sources

The Trump administration is considering sanctions against some of the Venezuelan lawmakers who took part in a bid supported by President Nicolas Maduro to wrest control of the country’s congress from U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, according to two people familiar with the matter. Deliberations over the possible sanctions targets,… Read More

3rd January 2020

U.S. slaps sanctions on Cuba defense minister over support for Venezuela’s Maduro

The United States imposed sanctions on Thursday on Cuba’s defense minister, accusing him of human rights violations and supporting socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement. Washington blacklisted Leopoldo Cintra Frias, minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Cuba (MINFAR), and his children,… Read More

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