$21 million in Swiss account, plane, yacht, lots of Miami condos

In an agreement to get released from a Miami federal lockup, a Venezuelan businessman accused of stealing a fortune from foreign government contracts must secure a $50 million bond with luxury properties in South Florida and a vast sum of money from his Swiss bank account.

Naman Wakil, who was born in Syria before immigrating to Venezuela and later settling in Miami, was considered a risk of flight upon his arrest earlier this month. But federal prosecutors and his defense attorney agreed to the terms of his bond as he awaits arraignment. A magistrate judge on Friday approved the terms of his release before trial.

But there are more steps to secure his massive personal surety bond. Wakil must complete the transfer of $21.3 million from his Swiss bank account to the federal court registry in Miami, while federal authorities place liens on more than a dozen properties, a plane, a yacht and local bank accounts to cover the balance for bail.

Federal agents arrested Wakil in a corruption and money-laundering conspiracy case, accusing him of paying bribes to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars in food and oil contracts from the Venezuelan government and then diverting some of the tainted proceeds into Miami-Dade’s luxury real estate market. Thanks to political connections, Wakil’s food and oil companies landed the government contracts between 2010 and 2017, and he moved the proceeds through banks in the United States, Cayman Islands, Panama and Switzerland, according to an indictment filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Berger.

Among his assets that the feds want to seize: the family’s condo at the Residences at Vizcaya on Hiawatha Avenue in Coconut Grove as well as in high-rise units on Brickell Avenue in downtown Miami and at the Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach. The total value of his purchases is at least $50 million, according to court documents, which is how the two sides came up with the size of his bond

Wakil’s defense attorney, Stephen Binhak, declined to comment on the bond arrangement or the conspiracy charges. Wakil, 59, a lawful U.S. resident, is being held at the Miami Federal Detention Center until he posts his bond. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 18.

According to new details in a recently unsealed indictment, Wakil started making bribery payments to officials in Venezuela’s state-owned food company known as CASA to secure supply contracts more than a decade ago. The contracts were issued by the Ministry of People’s Power for Food.

The first contract was for $30 million, which was deposited into one of Wakil’s business accounts in the Cayman Islands. He then sent $750,000 to the South Florida bank account of a Venezuelan official, the indictment says.

By 2012, Wakil expanded his food-supply business and landed a $225 million contract with the Venezuelan government. The contract payments were wired to his corporate bank accounts in Switzerland. In turn, he wired $11 million to the Swiss bank account of another Venezuelan official, according to the indictment.

At the same time, Wakil transferred at least $50 million to his personal account in Switzerland and then siphoned off $20 million of that money to his bank accounts in Miami, the indictment says. He used that money to buy 10 apartment units in Miami, a $3.5 million plane and a $1.5 million yacht.

A few years later, Wakil diversified his business by cutting supply deals with subsidiaries of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, said the prosecutor, Berger, who pointed to a bribery trail extending to Miami.

One deal for pipes stuck out from the rest: In 2015, another Venezuelan official approved the $11.2 million contract with the PDVSA subsidiary, Petropiar. According to the indictment, Wakil obtained the supply of pipes for $1.3 million from China and sold them for about nine times that much to the PDVSA subsidiary.

Wakil then conspired with others to move money through bank accounts in Panama and South Florida, and he eventually met with the Venezuelan official at his Miami office and transferred ownership of a $300,000 condo to a close relative of the official for his use, the indictment says.

Wakil is the latest member of Venezuela’s politically connected business class to be accused in Miami federal court of exploiting cozy relationships with senior officials in the governments of past President Hugo Chávez and current President Nicolás Maduro to enrich themselves through inflated government contracts, lucrative loans and currency exchange schemes. Most of their money has ended up in Swiss and other foreign bank accounts, along with investments in South Florida real estate.

Wakil, a Syrian-born entrepreneur, gained some notoriety in 2016 when he was featured in a McClatchy series on the Panama Papers scandal that exposed secret shell companies set up in offshore bank accounts by the wealthy clients of a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca. The accounts were set up to help the law firm’s clients hide money, make foreign investments and evade taxes, according to the McClatchy series.