Venezuelan tycoon indicted for bribery

AMERICAN PROSECUTORS unsealed an indictment on Monday against a Venezuelan media tycoon close to President Nicolás Maduro’s government, accusing him of paying US$159 million in bribes to top officials in exchange for lucrative foreign-currency deals and then hiding the proceeds in luxury Manhattan and Florida real estate.

It was unclear why the three-monthold charges against Raúl Gorrín for money laundering and foreign corruption were unsealed Monday. A separate court document said he was now considered a fugitive.

Gorrín helped purchase Globovision in 2013 and softened antigovernment coverage after becoming president of the popular TV network.

Prosecutors in Miami said in the August indictment that beginning around 2010, Gorrín paid bribes to two finance officials in exchange for the right to conduct foreign-currency transactions for the government.

He also allegedly paid on the officials’ behalf expenses related to three jets and the veterinary services for multiple champion horses, as well as arranging the purchase of a US$4.35-million yacht.

A lawyer for Gorrin did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Gorrín is the best-known of several so-called ‘boliburgues’ elites whose huge fortunes amassed during late President Hugo Chávez’s Bolivarian revolution have drawn scrutiny from United States prosecutors.

But unlike other insiders who’ve kept a low profile, he’s tried to use his influence as a media magnate to serve as a potential bridge to the normally hostile Trump administration, even managing to steal a snapshot shaking hands with US Vice President Mike Pence during a visit to Florida last year.

The indictment seeks forfeiture of 24 properties in Florida and New York allegedly tied to Gorrín, including a midtown Manhattan penthouse with floor-to-ceiling windows that sold a year ago for more than US$18 million.

“The potential loss of millions of dollars of his assets in the US will hopefully add some impetus to Gorrín’s efforts to find an exit strategy to rid Venezuela and the world of the Maduro regime,” said Russ Dallen, Miami-based managing partner at investment bank Caracas Capital.

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