Message to INFODIO readers: investigative journalism, which is what this site does, takes lots of time. Visiting media looking for a quick run down on Venezuela's gargantuan corruption, have the decency to at least cite the source when plagiarising this site's content without attribution (exhibit Reuters here and here, exhibit Bloomberg here, exhibit OCCRP here). To all readers, do the right thing, the honest thing: support independent investigative journalism, help us expose rampant corruption. Note added 28/06/2021: impostors are using INFODIO's former editor's full name, and a fake email address (alek.boyd.arregui at gmail.com) to send copyright infringement claims / take down requests to web hosting companies (exhibit Hostgator). The attempt is yet another effort paid by corrupt thugs to erase information about their criminal activities. Infodio.com has no issues with other websites / journalists using / posting information published here, so long as the source is properly cited.

August 2020

Carmelo Urdaneta Aqui, former PDVSA legal counsel and Rafael Ramirez confidant, hands himself over to the Feds

Carmelo Urdaneta Aqui, former PDVSA legal counsel and Rafael Ramirez confidant, handed himself over to the Feds.

Carmelo Urdaneta Aqui, former PDVSA legal counsel and Rafael Ramirez confidant, handed himself over to the Feds.

Carmelo Urdaneta Aqui, former PDVSA legal counsel and Rafael Ramirez confidant, handed himself over to the Feds.

Hopeless Juan Guaido comes with a plan, for a new plan, which rehashes old plan...

Juan Guaido isn't very bright, that much is more than evident already. He's come up with a 'new roadmap', which is a consultation plan -with same useless politicos that have allowed Nicolas Maduro to lord over Venezuela, for a new plan, which will rehash / relaunch the old plan of "1) cese de la usurpacion, 2) gobierno de transición, 3) elecciones libres"... well, better to listen from the horse's mouth:

Corruption: black economy of PDVSA

PDVSA, Venezuela's State-owned energy conglomerate, was taken over over by Hugo Chavez in 2002. Chavez realised early on that in order to succeed, his cosmic revolution would have to have unrestricted access to  unlimited funding. That is where Rafael Ramirez, the perfect yes-man, slotted right in. Upon being appointed by Chavez as both PDVSA CEO and Minister of Energy, he was in charge of supervising himself, i.e. Ramirez the Minister had to keep all activities of Ramirez the PDVSA CEO in check.

On Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique's money laundering

Switzerland is, of course, chock full of banks that have money laundering as an important revenue stream. Laundering proceeds of corruption has sustained many Swiss bankers over the years. But then, there are cases where aside from money laundering there's little else. We are of the opinion that Compagnie Bancaire Helvetique (CBH) is the perfect case exhibit to illustrate this point.

[UPDATED] It isn't just Iran: Reliance / Cuba come to Maduro's PDVSA rescue

UPDATED 25/08/2020 - Sources have informed this site that Reliance may be lifting up to eight cargoes in August (four have already been lifted). When this site put the question to a senior official with the Trump administration, whether Reliance had obtained a waiver / OFAC license, reply was in the negative. Whatever the case, Nicolas Maduro has cracked it.

The loot of PDVSA: missing document on Rafael Ramirez's $4.5BN money laundering scheme appears

This site has been under a relentless DDoS attack since 17 July (peaking at over 25 million requests per second), apologies to our readers. While measures to mitigate it are taking place (not thanks to AWS, source of attacks), we have kept ourselves busy investigating corruption. In earlier posts, we exposed how Luis and Ignacio  Oberto, with the help of Alejandro Betancourt and Nervis Villalobos, set up a $4.5 billion money laundering scheme at PDVSA. Rafael Ramirez was central to it, and his approval was a must.