Former Nurse Hugo Chavez Dragged Money Laundering In The US
JAKARTA - The former nurse of the late Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, Claudia D layaz was found guilty of money laundering. Claudia D layaz was even appointed Venezuela's national treasurer in 2011.
Claudia D layaz is the latest former high-ranking Venezuelan official to be convicted of corruption in the US. His predecessor as treasurer, Alejandro Andrade, was a star witness in his trial.
Andrade pleaded guilty in 2018 to accepting a bribe of $1 billion (810 million).
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but was released earlier this year after his sentence was reduced for working with the US Department of Justice.
Andrade was one of President Chavez's bodyguards before being appointed head of Venezuela's national treasury, the position he held from 2007 to 2010.
He used strict currency controls introduced by President Chavez to get rich by allowing his fellow conspirators to buy the US dollar at a lower price than the treasurer just for them to resell the dollar on the black market for huge profits.
Instead, he accepted a $1 billion bribe, including a large house in Florida, a Rolex watch, and a horse showing off.
Andrade testified in court that Claudia D layaz was continuing the forbidden scheme when she was given responsibility for the Venezuelan treasury by President Chavez.
D layaz and her husband Adri
While there has been widespread criticism of President Chavez for placing Venezuela's treasury in the hands of people with little or no relevant prior experience in the field of finance, his self-elected successor - Nicol life's Maduro - also chose someone close to his family as treasurer: his wife's nephew Carlos Erik Malpica.
Claudia D layaz and her husband have an unexplained wealth. They live a luxurious lifestyle in Spain.
She was arrested in Spain in 2018 and extradited to the US earlier this year with her husband extradited a few months later.
Unlike his predecessor as treasurer, D layoffs denied allegations of money laundering against him.