A federal indictment has ensnared ten individuals for allegedly conspiring to circumvent economic sanctions levied on Venezuela's state-owned oil corporation, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), the Justice Department disclosed on Monday. The indictment, which pins the group for collaborating on an illicit venture between the years 2019 and 2021, was unveiled as the department cracks down on attempts to sidestep U.S. foreign policy measures.
As reported by the Justice Department, the charged parties seemingly orchestrated an elaborate ploy to procure American aircraft parts for PDVSA's fleet, which included engines produced by Honeywell despite the sanctions dating back to January 2019, to conceal their nefarious activities, the defendants are alleged to have exported the parts through subsidiaries in other nations, like Novax Group SA in Costa Rica and Aerofalcon SL in Spain, and they were slapped onto the Commerce Department's Entity List in November 2023.
Among the individuals brought to book are four linked to PDVSA, and these include air transport manager Gilberto Ramon Araujo Prieto, logistics analysts Guillermo Ysrael Marval Rivero and Fernando Jose Blequett Landaeta, as well as George Clemente Semerene Quintero, who was apprehended last week at Miami International Airport and who is known as the head of PDVSA's logistics, procurement and warehousing, Reuters reported.
The indictment likewise names four people associated with Novax, including the company's owner Luis Alberto Duque Carvajal and director of operations Melvin Aleman Espinoza while two others linked to Aerofalcon, its owner Juan Carlos Gonzalez Perez and director Juan David Guerra Viera, make up the list of the accused, they face charges of violating the International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA), with a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars if found guilty but an indictment is only an allegation and does not presuppose guilt, all defendants are granted the presumption of innocence until such a time as they may be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
The case is currently being spearheaded by the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) and brought to trial by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Stratton from the Southern District of Florida along with Trial Attorney Ahmed Almudallal of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) with valuable assistance during the investigation from CES Deputy Chief Matthew McKenzie, as stated by the Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney's Office.
