Alejandro Betancourt: America’s next Rockefeller

This is a guest post from Alek Boyd - It is the end of 2025. Imagine being a billionaire controlling your own banks, allegedly a legitimate businessman with operations spanning the globe, and getting arrested twice in London, on competing international arrest warrants issued by Spain and Switzerland. You read it correctly: Switzerland. Imagine having to surrender passports and suffer the indignity of having to fight an extradition request from Switzerland, linked to a multi billion dollar money laundering case. Imagine the hardship of having to run vast operations in oil & gas, banking, finance, retail and private equity in multiple jurisdictions from two mansions in Chelsea and Kingston Lisle Park (Oxfordshire), and only be able to move between the two locations by helicopter, as per bail conditions imposed by Westminster Magistrates Court.

That was the life of Alejandro Betancourt only six months ago, but on Friday last week, Donald Trump announced through his Truth Social platform “THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY!” and America’s partner to bring the deal to fruition is none other than Betancourt, America’s next Rockefeller.

Such a spectacular turn of events is not a surprise. Betancourt’s rise is the stuff legends are made of. Given a bit more time and another Trump-influenced administration and he'll enter Carlos Slim territory. Growing up in a family with some pedigree, but little money, was just the right environment. In the late 2000s, Venezuela was suffering serious blackouts. A state of national emergency was declared by the late Hugo Chavez. The measure was the cue for Betancourt. Along with close relatives and school friends, he managed to obtain about a dozen no-bid contracts to solve Venezuela’s power and electricity problems. He used a ready-made Panamanian shell, Derwick Associates. He hired a former Vice Minister of Energy (Nervis Villalobos) to generate deals. The fact that the son of Javier Alvarado (former head of Venezuela’s National Grid Co CORPOELEC and a PDVSA procurement subsidiary BARIVEN) had gone to school with the Derwick Associates boys helped. He subcontracted all the work, procurement and even invoicing to ProEnergy, a Missouri based company.

Derwick never managed to solve persisting blackouts, but did leave Betancourt and his partners with hundreds of millions of dollars obtained by inflating prices of everything related to the projects. Private wealth bankers, linked to well established Swiss banks, soon came into the picture. Betancourt put the initial loot to work immediately. With the help of Villalobos, who was also a trusted associate of Rafael Ramirez (at the time concurrent PDVSA’s CEO and Venezuela’s Minister of Energy), he got into two money laundering schemes masked as loans: one for $4.85 billion and another $1.2 billion. The formula had already been successfully tried: “lend” Bolivares to PDVSA, get paid in USD at the official FX rate in banks abroad. The loan part was covered by selling USD for rapidly depreciating Bolivares to local operators in the black market, at many times the official value. Betancourt got in. So did his long time partner Francisco Convit, indicted, charged and put in fugitive status by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in case linked to the $1.2 billion scheme, later known as “Operation Money Flight”.

DOJ leaks placed Betancourt as number 2 in Operation Money Flight, but he was never openly named as co-conspirator. The previous $4.85 billion scheme is what caused Spain and Switzerland arrest warrants. The DOJ has the entire chain of evidence about the case. So do Switzerland, Andorra, Spain and Portugal. France is also well aware, and so are UK authorities. Billions of U.S. Dollars went through myriad accounts in Swiss, Andorran, Portuguese and Spanish banks. Many participants have been indicted, charged, have had their assets seized by DOJ and have pleaded guilty. Not Betancourt though. Since the early days of his “business career”, he lawyered up to his eyeballs, retaining just the right counsel in the right jurisdictions, to always keep ahead of chasing authorities.

Many deals can be made in a place as corrupt as Venezuela with hundreds of millions, paying fees to officials for “consultancy” being an afterthought, as Betancourt’s partner Francisco D’Agostino would say. Another benefit would be the ability to enter the big leagues of international corruption and its power brokers. As seen in the recently revealed Jeffrey Epstein emails, Betancourt was pitched to Epstein by D’Agostino in October 2012 as “...owner of Derwick and Associates. He is very interesting because he is only 34 years old and has over $3bill in contracts with the venezuelan gov't...very very interesting kid.” In another email, D’Agostino claimed Betancourt was his business partner, something he strenuously denied in public.

Betancourt already had many interests. He moved into oil, now partnering with Gazprom folk and Russia’s FSB. A joint venture called Petrozamora, purportedly between Gazprom and PDVSA, but in reality between Betancourt, Convit and Gazprom executive Boris Ivanov, was created with Ramirez’s approval. Already in June 2014, a former U.S. Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, retained by Betancourt, was offering traders 75,000 barrels of oil per day. A bigger river of money started flowing. Foreign oil ventures were pursued in Colombia (Pacific Rubiales) with the assistance of key energy players like the late Claude Dauphin.

Pretty much like all Venezuelans, with or without means, Betancourt decided to move abroad. Spain was the chosen destination. The loot allowed him to buy castles with hunting grounds (recently raided) where the King used to play. He became a fixture of Spain’s high society and jet set, laundered a lot of money via new business ventures and acquisitions, kept his head down and continued with his aggressive international expansions. Former REPSOL execs became partners, as did celebrated young business mavericks (Hawkers). Africa a new playground. But the stench of corruption kept fouling the air. In a surprising move, Treasury’s FinCEN declared Banca Privada d’Andorra a “money laundering concern” in 2015. Our man’s “business deals” with Villalobos and others were further revealed. A new approach was needed.

Switzerland became the focus. A bank that wouldn’t readily submit to official MLAT requests was needed, and so Betancourt, again along with his associates, acquired a controlling stake in Banca Credinvest. Keeping shareholding below 5% avoided reporting requirements. However Betancourt is not the quiet type. Continuous MLAT requests from DOJ related to both the $4.85 billion and $1.2 billion money laundering schemes kept landing in Switzerland, whose financial authorities passed onto banks involved. It became impossible to keep corrupt flows of billions of dollars hidden. In customary fashion, Betancourt fought back. His impertinent and legally invalid arguments were quashed in different Swiss rulings, and to his dismay and as a party filing claims in legal proceedings, his London address was revealed: 4 Cowley Street, next door neighbour to Jacob Rees-Mogg.

London then, rather than Madrid, became Betancourt’s preferred base. These were the days when the city was aptly called Londongrad, the perfect destination for Venezuela's Roman Abramovich. Business flourished. Oil kept flowing. Liechtenstein’s and Amsterdam company records revealed even more about Betancourt’s sprawling operations and new business partners. Over in America, well placed sources revealed that Betancourt had cut some kind of non-prosecution deal with the help of Martin Rodil, which explained his ability to stay ahead of DOJ’s criminal probes related to PDVSA. Whatever happened in those years is not well known, but in 2017 Donald Trump was elected President. A flurry of fresh sanctions were imposed on Venezuela and PDVSA. Betancourt was in the thick of it. His Petrozamora JV used Sweden’s Nynas (controlled by PDVSA) to market production. For years, the shell used in the JV was part of the raft of Ukraine-war (Crimea) sanctioned entities associated with Gazprom. A string of emails leaked to Infodio showed Vladimir Anisimov in CC. Further research revealed Anisimov as a very close, long time understudy of Nikolay Patrushev. Betancourt was now intervening directly with a sanctioned entity (Nynas), appointing Nynas’ counsel in Sweden, negotiating terms with Nicolas Maduro’s legal representatives. None of that impeded him. Most likely, none of it has ever been reported to HMRC or Spanish tax authorities, which became entangled in yet another case involving Betancourt's tax residency and where taxes were due to be paid.

When the Trump administration decided to lend support to Juan Guaido, Betancourt was in pole position. He’d been courting Guaido’s brother and father in Spain. When Rudy Giuliani, also retained as counsel, came to visit in London and Madrid, Guaido’s father was produced so Giuliani could convincingly argue that Betancourt was with the good guys supported by Trump. The former New York Mayor went on record claiming Betancourt could not be discussed regarding involvement in criminal probes, because he was a “matter of national security”. Bill Barr was told to order DOJ to stand down. Mauricio Claver Carone, then a National Security Advisor, told me that Betancourt was not a problem. He had been included in a far fetched and harebrained scheme that would see the ousting of Maduro. The plan’s participants were a constellation of Maduro operatives, opposition figures (Raul Gorrin, Maikel Moreno, Christopher Figuera, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, Leopoldo Lopez, Juan Guaido) and, of course, Betancourt. The plan was a catastrophic failure, but Betancourt’s bridges with the Trump administration remained intact. In fact, Guaido's "cese de la usurpación, gobierno de transición y elecciones libres" mantra became Marco Rubio's "stabilization, recovery and elections" plan for Venezuela. Worse than in the first instance, Rubio's three-phase plan is but a White House-sanctioned looting of Venezuelan resources not even Betancourt could foresee.

The Biden years weren’t particularly fruitful. The sole achievement of Trump’s first Presidency’s Venezuela policy was the consolidation of Maduro, who was never a fan of Betancourt, relying instead on Alex Saab, yet another spectacularly corrupt operator now in U.S. custody for the second time. But Betancourt was kept abreast of internal workings thanks to D’Agostino’s ability to flight under the radar. D’Agostino managed to form a trading partnership with Saab, whose ignorance of crude trading and energy markets prompted the venture. Betancourt’s very own control of Petrozamora became threatened, as Maduro’s son decided to favour friends with Betancourt’s participation. Behind scenes, Betancourt ensured to keep as opaque as possible his interests in the JV by ceding, transferring and shuffling around participation. Shells in Barbados, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Liechtenstein were used. American officials and federal agencies have been kept in the dark. The alternative, considering comments of a non-prosecution deal, is even worse: nothing has been done with all this information and Betancourt has been allowed for years to operate with total impunity in clear breach of Treasury sanctions. Eventually he was helped by Harry Sargeant, a golfing buddy of Trump friendly with Nicolas Maduro and Delcy Rodriguez, who convinced them that Betancourt could become useful. A new lease of life appeared, new oil deals and an even larger flow of money catapulted him to the second spot in Venezuela's oil producing leagues, right behind Chevron.

More recently, now in Trump’s second Presidency, Operation Southern Spear to capture and remove Maduro was launched on 3 January. Maduro’s criminal network was left intact. In fact, Maduro’s criminal associates, some wanted, some sanctioned, all equally guilty in the complete annihilation of Venezuelan institutions, economy and democracy are now Trump’s best propaganda tools. Over 9 million Venezuelans have left the country due to the profound and systematic failures caused by the ruling chavista coalition, but it has not impeded the Trump administration to call it an epic foreign policy success. Operation Southern Spear caused a flurry of legal activity in different jurisdictions. Due to its long standing position as the favourite money laundering destination, Switzerland was called to act. Funds belonging to Maduro and his operatives were frozen. Ramirez was, for the first time, included in such a list, and amazingly so was Betancourt, Villalobos, Alvarado, Convit, Gorrin and even Pedro Trebbau, another relative / partner of Betancourt that has kept a very low profile. Francisco D’Agostino was briefly arrested in Italy too. Federal agents from the Homeland Security Investigation unit got a “hurry up” call to act on the mountain of evidence that had been accumulating throughout the years. Got in touch again, asking for fresh information, which was duly provided. Still, no action.

Betancourt knows better though. Since before the first Trump administration he has been courting, hiring and keeping on retainer some of America’s most influential lawyers, lobbyists, and PR people, some of whom with very close connections to Donald Trump. The world got shocked by revelations of how David Boies walked once into the WSJ offices in Manhattan to quash down negative reporting on Elizabeth Holmes Theranos’ operation. FusionGPS’s number two, Peter Fritsch, was right there to help Boies. The exact same players, bar Boies, were employed by Betancourt to silence perfectly valid and sourced reporting of his criminal activities, also with the WSJ. Defamation campaigns and briefs were created and distributed by FusionGPS to all media writing, reporting or researching Betancourt. I was painted as arguably the world's worst criminal, engaged in all kinds of horrible things from pedophilia to drug trafficking, spreading AIDS, and other baseless allegations. So was Thor Halvorssen, another long time critic of Betancourt. Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles worked for a Betancourt lobbyist (Brian Ballard) before being appointed to her new position. Trump and Betancourt have shared some of the same lawyers. Betancourt’s involvement with Epstein through D’Agostino may have helped identifying key players able to keep DOJ at bay. He certainly has Epstein-like abilities to penetrate powerful networks and laugh at law enforcement.

My own flat in London was broken into, my laptops stolen and my family followed during months-long surveillance operations. Convit organised the operation with Rodil, a source that Federal agencies have used on Venezuela-related cases. There are recordings of Betancourt issuing threats to people in Venezuela from London. Nothing is impossible with an unending cascade of illicit money. That model, used by drug cartels and international criminal conglomerates, has proved its efficiency everywhere it has been employed. To best exemplify the argument, the UK’s former Head of Fraud, Bribery and Corruption of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office (Sara Chouraqui) has just been appointed General Counsel of the Barbados shell Betancourt will use to get into bed with Trump. The SFO too was called upon to launch an Unexplained Wealth Order investigation and that's when people like Chouraqui come handy.

Oh, but there is a silver lining to all this. Trump is going to find out very soon that the biggest oil deal in history is based on inflated oil reserves numbers that no one has ever verified, a dilapidated PDVSA, heavy crude in the Orinoco Basin impossible to recover without tens of billions worth of new investments. Betancourt has been able to hoodwink Marco Rubio and Trump’s inner circle with an alleged capacity to get quick fixes and ramp output. But reality is stubborn, and after the low hanging fruit has been picked and marginal increases are realised, the reality of building everything from scratch will hit like a ton of bricks. That's why multinationals aren't racing back to Venezuela. None of the political promises made to possibly remedy what is looking more and more like a certain midterms electoral disaster for Trump will be fulfilled, cause Betancourt or not, there’s no such thing as a quick fix applicable to Venezuela’s oil industry.