MIAMI — A former Venezuelan National Guard officer pleaded guilty this Monday in a Florida court to being part of a plot to money laundering in which bribes were paid to officials of the South American country, indicated the United States Department of Justice.
Nepmar Jesús Escalona, 47, admitted to having participated in a scheme that consisted of submitting fraudulent applications to the Venezuelan monetary regulation authority, formerly known as CADIVI (National Foreign Exchange Administration Commission), between January 2010 and September 2017.
The objective was to deceive the Bank Venezuelan Banesco and the Central Bank of Venezuela, as well as the country’s customs authorities to deliver US dollars to Escalona and his accomplices outside Venezuela, according to court documents.
The requests to CADIVI were submitted to supposedly finance the importation of food to Venezuela, but in reality they were a scam to enrich the conspirators.
With their deceptions, Escalona and his accomplices managed to transfer almost 1.7 million dollars from Banco Banesco to an account controlled by them at Banco do Brasil.
The members of the plot paid bribes to officials of the Venezuelan regime to guarantee the success of their plan.
The defendant, who has lived in South Florida since 2014, will be sentenced on May 23. He faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison for the crimes committed.
Source: AFP
