Swiss banker’s sentence slashed in alleged $1B Venezuelan money laundering scheme
A Swiss banker’s sentence was cut for his role in an alleged $1 billion international money laundering scheme that illegally funneled money into South Florida real estate.
Matthias Krull was a key figure in a sophisticated scheme in
which Venezuelan officials and wealthy elite siphoned money out of the
country’s state oil company, PDVSA, and into assets in Europe and the United
States, according to federal prosecutors. Some of the money allegedly went to
buy luxury properties in Wellington, Coral Gables’ Cocoplum neighborhood and in
Sunny Isles Beach, including at the condominium Porsche Design Tower.
Krull, a wealth manager with the Swiss bank Julius Baer
Group, was initially sentenced in 2018 to 10 years in prison for his role in
the money laundering operation.
U.S. District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga of the Southern
District of Florida reduced his sentence to three-and-a-half years in
September, due to Krull’s cooperation with the federal government, according to
an order that was unsealed on Tuesday. Krull is expected to begin his sentence
in July.
The Miami Herald first reported the sentencing reduction.
Krull’s attorney Oscar Rodriguez did not immediately return
a request for comment.
Federal prosecutors said that Krull cooperated immediately,
which helped them go forward with other investigations. That included the
guilty plea of two other defendants in the money laundering case, according to
court filings.
Krull was allegedly a conduit to move $600 million in
siphoned funds to a European financial institution, where the money would
ultimately be used by Venezuelan TV mogul, Raúl Gorrín, as well as PDVSA
officials, and three stepsons of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, according
to the Miami Herald, citing federal law enforcement officials familiar with the
case.
The scheme started in 2014, and Krull joined in about 2016
when a co-conspirator contacted him to launder the proceeds of a PDVSA money,
according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Eventually the money laundering
operation, which exploited Venezuela’s fixed exchange rate for government
officials, grew from $600 million to $1.2 billion
One of Krull’s clients was Francisco Convit Guruceaga, a
main orchestrator of the scheme, according to federal prosecutors.
Separately, a former national treasurer of Venezuela,
Alejandro Andrade, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018 for receiving
over $1 billion worth of bribes from his co-conspirator, Venezuelan TV mogul
Gorrín, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of Andrade’s
guilty plea, he agreed to forfeit his assets, which included 17 champion show
horses and five real estate properties in Palm Beach County.
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