A Venezuelan national, George Semerene Quintero, aged 61, was sentenced to 30 months in prison with three years of supervised release for his participation in a conspiracy to defy United States sanctions against Venezuela's state-owned oil company, Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA). According to the Department of Justice, Semerene was involved in a scheme to illicitly acquire and smuggle US aircraft parts to Venezuela, despite strict sanctions.
“Today, George Semerene Quintero was held accountable in a U.S. court of law for conspiring to circumvent economic sanctions and export controls to aid Nicolás Maduro’s regime in Venezuela in obtaining critical aircraft parts from America,” U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida expressed. Court records reveal that Semerene and his co-conspirators engaged in elaborate tactics to discretely acquire parts between January 2019 and December 2021, as per U.S. Attorney's Office.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division highlighted the significance of enforcement, stating, "The Justice Department is committed to enforcing the sanctions imposed on the Maduro regime and will not tolerate those who violate the law and undermine our national security." Semerene, who had previously worked in PdVSA's procurement department, facilitated these transactions by going through third parties in other countries like Spain and Costa Rica, according to the same press release.
Matthew S. Axelrod, Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement of the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, quipped, "Now, the only procurement he’ll be doing is at the prison commissary," a statement obtained by U.S. Attorney's Office. According to details from the case, Semerene used a network of third-party companies to falsely tell U.S. suppliers about the actual recipients and purposes of the aircraft parts. These companies were used as fronts to claim they were the end users, deliberately deceiving U.S. businesses about the ultimate destination of the parts.
The indictment, unsealed earlier in the year following Semerene's arrest upon his entry into the United States, implicated nine other individuals, including three associated with PdVSA. The conviction followed a guilty plea entered by Semerene on August 20. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Stratton of the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorney Ahmed Almudallal of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section, with additional aid provided by Assistant U.S. Attorney Maria Medetis, Chief of the National Security Section for the Southern District of Florida, and CES Deputy Chief Matthew McKenzie.
Further details on the case and related court documents can be accessed through the websites of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the District Court for the Southern District of Florida under case number 21-cr-20589.
