MIAMI, Fla. (AP) - Federal prosecutors said eight people have been charged with playing roles in a $1.2 billion money-laundering scheme involving Venezuela's state-run oil and natural gas company.
Miami U.S. Attorney Benjamin Greenberg said in a news release Thursday the scheme began in 2014 with bribery and fraud at the state-run PDVSA enterprise and grew over time. A criminal complaint contends the scheme involved members of the Venezuelan elite, money managers, brokerage firms, banks and real estate investment firms.
Two suspects have been arrested. Authorities said Mathias Krull, 44, a German national and Panama resident, was arrested at Miami International Airport. Investigators say Gustavo Adolfo Hernandez Frieri, 45, a Colombian national and naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested in Sicily. The other suspects are at large.
Court records list no attorneys for the men.
