Message to INFODIO readers: investigative journalism, which is what this site does, takes lots of time and effort. Visiting media looking for a quick run down on Venezuela's gargantuan corruption, pls have the decency to at least cite the source when plagiarising this site's content without attribution (exhibit Reuters here, exhibit Bloomberg here, exhibit OCCRP here). To all readers: do the right thing, the honest thing, support independent investigative journalism. 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. 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. Note added 12/06/2026: infodio.com has not created mirror websites / domains and remains totally independent and unrelated to others. Beware of websites using our brand.
In October 2018 this site posited that Victor Vargas' Banco Occidental de Descuento was a Ponzi. Shortly after, Curaçao’s Central Bank acted decisively against Banco del Orinoco, a fully-owned subsidiary controlled by Vargas.
UPDATED 07/01/2022 - 16:16GMT - Have a look at the pdf below. It is an internal memo from Grupo Financiero BOD, dated 18 October 2016, signed by none other than Victor Vargas, founder and CEO of the group. No watermark has been added to preserve orginal metadata (author Carely Valentin). It relates to banking operations in Venezuela and abroad (money transfers).
Victor Vargas, buyer of Larry Ellison's yacht, "banker" extraordinaire wh
UPDATED 13/09/2019 - 19/09/2019 - Last October, this site posted news about banking operations of Victor Vargas:
UPDATED* - Legal news from Curaçao provide another exhibit of Venezuela being the undisputed king in the major leagues of corruption. Andrade Gutierrez, not necessarily the cleanest of operators as exposed in Lava Jato scandal, took Victor Vargas' Banco del Orinoco NV (BdO) to court.
Petróleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA as it is commonly referred to, is an oil conglomerate fully owned by the Venezuelan State. Despite much propaganda to the contrary, it was created in 1976, by then President Carlos Andres Pérez, as part of a nationalization policy drive that gave Venezuela full control of exploration, production and commercialization of its natural resources.
Read an updated version here. Petróleos de Venezuela, or PDVSA as it is commonly referred to, is an oil conglomerate fully owned by the Venezuelan State. Despite much propaganda to the contrary, it was created in 1976, by then President Carlos Andres Pérez, as part of a nationalization policy drive that gave Venezuela full control of exploration, production and commercialization of its natural resources.
Imagine you are Victor Vargas, and you get up one morning to read a piece in Bloomberg Week that claims that your bank has $19.3 billion worth of assets, when in reality your bank's assets are $2.4 billion. Imagine you are Juan Carlos Escotet, and after you've
Last week I posted about latest filings in Otto Reich's RICO lawsuit against Derwick Associates. It presents quite an unexpected and interesting twist to the corruption saga: one of the defendants, Francisco D'Agostino, allegedly offered information on the other two defendants (Alejandro Betancourt and Pedro Trebbau) to Reich in "exchange for his dismissal" from the lawsuit. No honour among thieves, right?
The other day we found out -thanks Roberta- that representatives of the umbrella group opposing chavismo in Venezuela had been asking the U.S. State Department to NOT impose sanctions on individuals responsible for atrocious human rights violations. Roberta's faux pas was, in my opinion and contrary to conventional wisdom, a calculated move. It was a clear message from the State Department intended to expose turncoat Venezuelan politicos that love to pretend one thing in public, and then get in bed with utterly corrupt cronies of chavismo.
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