Former national treasurer of Venezuela and former nurse of Hugo Chávez, Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillén and her husband, Adrián José Velásquez Figueroa, They were sentenced this Wednesday in the United States to 15 years in prison and 3 years of probation each for money laundering.
In addition, they must repay $136 million and pay $75,000 fines each, according to an announcement by Judge William P. Dimitrouleas in Miami.
The prosecutor had asked for sentences of no less than 23 years and 5 months’ imprisonment for her and 19 years and five months for him.
Claudia Díaz Guillén asked the judge for “compassion” in a statement saying so would like to “collaborate” with the United States but not being able to do so because the information they are looking for is missing.
The statement was incorporated into the court record of the case shortly before the judicial hearing in which she and her husband, Adrián Velásquez Figueroa, were reportedly sentenced in Miami.
how they operated
As he says, he made up his mind as of this writing lest his words be translated correctly during the hearing.
“I stand here today as a defeated woman. My family and I have lived under the threat of death, prison and torture for more than ten years. My children lost both their parents at the tender ages of 14 and 4.” , begins the letter. of Hugo Chávez’s so-called “nurse”.
Her and her husband extradited from Spain in 2022They were very close to the Venezuelan president from 1999 until his death in 2013 and left the country and moved to Spain because they say they were persecuted by the current president, Nicolás Maduro.
In 2022 they were found guilty of money laundering charges by a jury in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
The prosecution says so they made a fortune of $136 million with a network of corruption that took advantage of his position to benefit from the exchange control system in place in Venezuela at the time.
According to the indictment, Díaz and her husband received payments from companies controlled by Raúl Gorrín – a media mogul also indicted and currently on the run – to accounts in Miami that they allegedly they served to finance the couple’s luxurious life.
The government assures that the former nurse’s role was fundamental to the corrupt plot in which Gorrín participated. According to prosecutors, in exchange for favoring businessman Díaz, she received payments of about $136 million that her husband hid by setting up shell companies and bank accounts abroad. Some of that money made its way to Miami.
The couple completely changed their bourgeois lifestyle and gained access to private jets, yachts, international travel and fashion items from luxury brands.
The prosecution based its case largely on the testimony of one of Díaz’s predecessors in the Treasury Office, Alejandro Andrade, who testified that Díaz went ahead with a financial deal he had previously made with Gorrín.
Andrade, a former presidential security agent who used his personal relationship with Chávez to rebel and amass a huge fortune, was released from prison in 2021 after serving less than half of a 10-year sentence.
As part of his plea deal with the prosecution, he lost more than $260 million in cash and assets, including an oceanfront Palm Beach mansion, luxury vehicles and show jumping horses.
The defence
In the brief presented to the judge, Díaz Guillén says so sin of “naive” accepting this position, which she held from 2011 to 2013, as well as pointing out the serious consequences that her and her husband’s detention in the United States will have for their children and mother.
“With all this suffering and the devastating loss of my children and family, I am asserting in this court that if I could cooperate with American authorities, I would. However, as I have repeatedly told prosecutors, I don’t have the information they are looking for. ».
“I haven’t dated the people you want information about”points out without providing details on these alleged prescriptions of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Díaz Guillen said she had worked for the government for 22 years and was forced to resign for “political reasons”.
“My husband was expelled from the country under threat of death. Our property was confiscated. Our family members were tortured by politics. I was treasurer for 2 years of a 22 year government career. If I had known all of this was going to happen, I would not have accepted the position,” she says.
According to Díaz Guillén, she took office with “the intention of solving the Treasury’s problems. I wanted Venezuela to make money and I made money for the country as treasurer.”
In the letter, he recounts his difficulties in Florida prisons and claims to be “a very spiritual and religious person” who formed prison prayer groups and tried to act as a spiritual adviser.
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Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.