For a decade, Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt has been embroiled in a wide-ranging U.S. Department of Justice investigation into a complex multibillion-dollar money laundering scheme, in which U.S. prosecutors allege he embezzled money from Venezuela's state oil company known as PDVSA.
In recent months, federal prosecutors in Miami closed the Betancourt investigation on orders from the office of then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, as they were told, according to two people familiar with the matter.
This step came as part of an effort by White House officials under Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to urge Betancourt to engineer a new huge oil deal with the Venezuelan government, according to the two sources.
After years of failing to convince prosecutors in the United States, Spain and Switzerland to abandon their criminal investigations against him, Betancourt's biggest opportunity came after the US military in January stormed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's Caracas home and took him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.
Within hours, Betancourt received a phone call, and US administration officials sought his help to begin talks with officials in the Maduro government still in power, led by his deputy Delcy Rodriguez, according to sources familiar with the oil deal.
Within weeks, the features of an American plan for the Venezuelan oil sector began to become clear. US President Donald Trump recently announced the project, as the company headed by Betancourt will be a partner of the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) in a plan that Trump says will ensure US control over 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves.
Bettencourt was arrested in London last year on a Swiss arrest warrant, and in January, his name was included in a Swiss government order to freeze the assets of 37 people, including Maduro and people associated with him, on the grounds that Swiss authorities aim to ensure “that no illicitly acquired assets can be transferred outside Switzerland” following Maduro’s arrest.
A spokesman for the US Department of Justice denied that Blanch had personally intervened in the case, saying: “This is pure fabrication. Todd Blanch has never spoken about this case, or even its existence at all, and he has never asked for any case to be closed at all.”
A wealthy oil family... and an investigation that lasted for years
Over the years, Bettencourt built a lucrative oil venture through contracts with the Venezuelan government, first under the late President Hugo Chavez and then Maduro, sparking allegations that he was part of a network of wealthy Venezuelans, popularly known as “poliborges” or “polichicos.”
The United States claims that this network helped Maduro and his entourage steal millions of dollars from Venezuela's oil wealth and launder it through real estate deals in Miami and bank accounts in Malta and Switzerland.
No criminal charges were brought against Betancourt, but he was an unnamed accomplice in some transactions that formed the basis for charges against one of his cousins, who was a partner in one of Betancourt's companies. Ten people were charged in the investigation, which lasted for years.
John Seale, Betancourt's lawyer, says his client did not violate any US laws, which is why no charges have been brought against him.
Prosecutors focused on transactions involving Betancourt and others, which the government alleged resulted from bribes, but Betancourt was unaware of the source of the money, Seale told CNN in a phone interview.
"He did not commit any criminal activity. He was involved in some transactions by virtue of his business dealings with his cousins. There is no evidence that he knew that the money came from bribery, or that it was linked to the state oil company Venezuela," Sale added.
Despite the lengthy investigation, Betancourt became the cornerstone of Trump's efforts to take a huge stake in Venezuela's oil sector, a deal orchestrated with the current Venezuelan regime led by Rodriguez, who heads a government that includes many of the same officials the United States has accused of corruption.
Rubio and Trump administration officials defended working with Betancourt despite allegations that he helped the Maduro regime launder millions of dollars stolen from Venezuela.
A senior US official said in a phone call with reporters at the White House on Tuesday: “We verified his matter through our system. There are no charges against him in the United States for violating any of our laws, and in fact, several European investigations were launched into him based on some of the allegations made by the United States.”
In an interview with Venezuelan broadcaster Sergio Novelli, Rubio credited himself with helping to seal the deal with Betancourt, defending him as someone with a proven track record of working in Venezuela and saying: “We are conducting careful investigations into what we know within our system.”
He added: "It is clear that if these individuals are under investigation in the United States, and we have confirmed this with all authorities, there is no ongoing investigation against him within our system."
In the interview, Rubio did not mention that he played a pivotal role in ending the investigation into Bettencourt.
According to a person familiar with the matter, Rubio and White House officials pressured Justice Department officials, first under then-Attorney General Pam Bondi, and more recently with Blanche, the current attorney general, to clear the way for Bettencourt to work with the United States on the oil deal.
Blanche intervened while he was deputy district attorney, including during Bondi's tenure as district attorney.
Ending the US investigation was one step among others. Another step was for Blanche to reach out to the Swiss authorities to request their cooperation and drop the arrest warrants that prevented Bettencourt from traveling due to his bail conditions restricting him to the United Kingdom.
Informed sources reported that the US State Department granted Betancourt entry visas to the United States several times during the stages of concluding the oil deal.
The State Department declined to comment, merely referring to statements made by Rubio and administration officials over the past few days.
A White House official told CNN: "President Trump has closed the largest oil deal in history, a deal that will greatly benefit both the United States and Venezuela for years to come. This historic deal represents an important step toward stabilizing the Venezuelan economy after years of hyperinflation and almost no new investment, while it will more than double US oil reserves."
He added: "Less than a year ago, Venezuela was hostage to a dangerous narco-terrorist who exploited its vast resources to enrich his friends and America's opponents. Today, Venezuela is on the path to recovery and prosperity, in cooperation with the United States and American companies that are making unprecedented investments in its oil sector."
This oil deal appears similar to another deal dating back at least to Trump's first term, as Rudy Giuliani, then Bettencourt's lawyer and later Trump's lawyer, sought to sell the deal to the US administration in 2019, according to Lev Parnas, one of Giuliani's former aides, who said he was working with him on the proposed deal. Parnas was later charged with campaign finance charges, for which he was convicted.
Giuliani worked to sell the oil deal while pressing the administration to drop charges against Bettencourt and separately urged Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden, according to a source familiar with the matter.
All of these business activities coincided in late 2019.
During a visit by Giuliani to the Betancourt Palace in Spain, he worked to arrange meetings regarding the Bettencourt case, and he also held a separate meeting in Madrid with Andrei Yermak, a close associate of Volodymyr Zelensky at the time, in an effort to launch an investigation into former US President Joe Biden.
Weeks ago, Trump personally, in a famous call, asked the Ukrainian leader to announce a corruption investigation into the Biden family.
According to Parnas, the idea for the oil deal at the time revolved around Giuliani collaborating with US officials to conclude a similar deal with Maduro.
Parnas says some of Betancourt's business partners were involved, and the ultimate plan was for Maduro to step down peacefully and allow a peaceful transition of power in Venezuela.
This plan did not succeed, in part because Trump administration officials sought to undermine Maduro by supporting opposition leader Juan Guaido.
Betancourt was a major financier of Guaido's opposition activism, according to Trump administration officials and Seal, Betancourt's lawyer.
Sale denies Betancourt's involvement in any potential deals Giuliani was offering to Maduro at the time.
A Giuliani spokesman did not make any immediate comment on this news.
Money smuggling operation
In 2018, Betancourt was among 12 people involved in what the US Department of Homeland Security Investigations called a money smuggling operation.
In the affidavit, filed in court in Miami, a Homeland Security Investigations agent stated that the operation "uncovered an international conspiracy to launder PDVSA's money through Miami and several large-scale international money laundering organizations. More specifically, the investigation revealed the use of Miami real estate and sophisticated fictitious investment schemes to launder hundreds of millions of US dollars."
Betancourt's alleged role appears limited in court documents filed in the indictments against a group of businessmen and former PDVSA officials allegedly involved.
He was not named in the documents, but people familiar with the matter told CNN that he is listed as a co-conspirator in at least one transaction that was part of the charges against him.
Rubio acknowledged that Betancourt's legal problems raise public image issues, but defended Betancourt's true affiliation with the opposition.
In his interview this week with the program “Al Dia con Sergio Novelli*,” Rubio said that during Trump’s first term, “this person was in a very awkward situation with Maduro, as it turned out that he was supporting elements of the opposition at that time, which caused him problems with the Venezuelan president at the time.”
He added: "But we now have an opportunity to do something that I believe will benefit everyone, and especially in the long run, it will benefit the Venezuelan people."
