Leader’s stepsons under scrutiny in graft probe

As President Nicolas Maduro has pushed forward with his plan to rescue Venezuela’s cratering economy, U.S. prosecutors are looking into whether members of his family were simultaneously benefiting from what they contend was a scheme to siphon off $1.2 billion from the stateowned oil company, two people familiar with the U.S. investigation told the Associated Press.

The investigation, which gained momentum last week with a key guilty plea in federal court in Miami, is part of a vast effort by U.S. prosecutors to close the net on Maduro, who has largely dodged the allegations of corruption that have resulted in charges against several senior officials.

In court documents, a Swiss banker named Matthias Krull admitted that he plotted with men identified only as “Los Chamos” — Venezuelan slang for “the kids” — to launder a $200 million slice of stolen funds from the oil company PDVSA.

Los Chamos actually are Yoswal, Yosser and Walter Flores, the children of first lady Cilia Flores from a previous relationship and Maduro’s stepsons, according to the two Americans who discussed the case with the AP. They spoke on the condition of anonymity.

In a criminal complaint unsealed last month and as part of a factual statement filed with Krull’s plea agreement, he and prosecutors refer to them as the “stepsons” of “Venezuelan Official 2,” who the two Americans said is Maduro.

Maduro, his wife and her sons were not named in the complaint. But both sources said prosecutors are looking for any links between the first couple and what they believe is a network that funneled hundreds of millions of Venezuela’s oil wealth into south Florida luxury real estate, at a time of widespread shortages and hyperinflation in the South American nation.

Several of those assets already are being targeted for seizure, as well as about $45 million at City National Bank of New Jersey and accounts in the Bahamas, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez, one of Maduro’s closest aides, did not return repeated messages from the AP seeking comment. No contact information was available for Maduro’s stepsons so they could not be reached for comment.

Corruption is rampant in Venezuela, and U.S. prosecutors have uncovered billions in fraud and bribes at PDVSA.

The Miami probe — the biggest money-laundering case ever lodged against Venezuelan officials and their associates — comes as Maduro is under increasing pressure to resign and on the heels of an attack with explosives-laden drones that he has called an assassination attempt mounted by the U.S. and his opponents.