The Trump administration has enlisted Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt to help broker a major US oil deal with Venezuela, despite his long-running links to a US investigation into an alleged billion-dollar money laundering scheme involving Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA. According to reports from CNN, federal prosecutors in Miami recently quietly closed their investigation into Betancourt after officials in the Trump administration sought to clear the way for him to work on the Venezuela oil deal. The Justice Department disputed that then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche personally intervened in the case, calling the claim "a complete fabrication." A department spokesperson said Blanche had never discussed the case with prosecutors or directed them to close it. "He didn't commit any criminal activity," Betancourt's lawyer Jon Sale told CNN, adding that there's no evidence he knew the money came from bribery or had anything to do with PDVSA. The move came as part of an effort by Trump White House officials and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to enlist Betancourt to engineer a massive new oil deal with Venezuela's government.
Betancourt, a wealthy Venezuelan businessman who built oil-related businesses under former presidents Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro, was investigated as part of a broader US probe into the alleged embezzlement and laundering of funds from PDVSA. The investigation, known as 'Operation Money Flight', uncovered what US authorities described as an international conspiracy to launder hundreds of millions of dollars through Miami real estate, bank accounts and other investment schemes. Betancourt was never charged with a crime. However, US investigators identified him as an unnamed co-conspirator in at least one transaction linked to the case, according to people familiar with the investigation. His lawyer, Jon Sale, has denied any wrongdoing, saying Betancourt was involved in legitimate business transactions with his cousins and had no knowledge that money involved in those deals came from bribery or had anything to do with PDVSA. In the affidavit filed in federal court in Miami, an HSI agent revealed the operation "revealed an international conspiracy to launder the PDVSA funds through Miami and several large-scale, international third-party money-laundering organizations."
The investigation was not limited to the US. Betancourt has also faced legal scrutiny in Europe. He was arrested in London last year on a Swiss warrant, and Switzerland earlier this year included him among people whose assets were frozen following Maduro's arrest. As recently as January, Betancourt was listed in a Swiss government order that froze the assets of 37 people, including Maduro and people associated with him, according to CNN. The administration subsequently moved to remove obstacles to Betancourt's involvement. The US investigation was closed, according to two people briefed on the matter, while US officials also sought cooperation from Swiss authorities over warrants that had restricted his international travel. The State Department also issued Betancourt visas allowing him to enter the US several times as negotiations over the oil deal progressed.
President Donald Trump has described the venture as a historic oil agreement that would give the United States access to Venezuela's vast petroleum reserves. The White House said the deal is intended to attract major investment into Venezuela's oil sector and help revive an industry that has suffered from years of economic crisis and underinvestment. "President Trump secured the largest oil deal in world history — one that will greatly benefit both the United States and Venezuela for years to come," a White House official told CNN. The deal involves Trump's company taking a massive stake in Venezuela's oil industry, with the company led by Betancourt as a partner to the Pentagon in a plan that Trump says will secure US control of 65 billion barrels of Venezuela's oil reserves. A senior US official defended the administration's decision to work with Betancourt, saying he had been vetted and was not facing charges in the United States. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also defended the arrangement, pointing to Betancourt's previous ties to the Venezuelan opposition and his experience operating in the country's oil industry. "We vetted him through our system," Rubio said, adding that there was no US investigation against Betancourt. Rubio acknowledged that Betancourt's legal issues raise perception problems but defended him as someone with a proven record operating in Venezuela.
