{"id":121486,"date":"2020-11-27T08:34:53","date_gmt":"2020-11-27T05:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/six-american-oil-executives-sentenced-in-venezuela-for-corruption\/"},"modified":"2020-11-27T08:34:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-27T05:34:53","slug":"six-american-oil-executives-sentenced-in-venezuela-for-corruption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/six-american-oil-executives-sentenced-in-venezuela-for-corruption\/","title":{"rendered":"#Six American oil executives sentenced in Venezuela for corruption"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Six American oil executives sentenced in Venezuela for corruption<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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Six American oil executives held for three years in Venezuela were found guilty of corruption charges by a judge Thursday and immedia<\/a>tely sentenced to prison, dashing hopes of a quick release that would send them home to their families in the United States.<\/p>\n

Some relatives had been bracing for the disheartening outcome, which came on the evening of Thanksgiving Day.<\/p>\n

Alirio Rafael Zambrano, brother to two of the men, said they were \u201cundeniably innocent\u201d and victims of \u201cjudicial terrorism.\u201d No evidence in the case supports a guilty conviction, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe, the family, are heartbroken to be separated even further from our loved ones,\u201d Zambrano said in a phone message from New Jersey. \u201cWe pray that the leaders of our nation step forward and continue to fight unceasingly for their freedom and human rights.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attorney Mar\u00eda Alejandra Poleo, who helped represent three of the men, said the case was \u201cvoid of evidence.\u201d \u201cOf course, the defense will app<\/a>eal the decision,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The so-called Citgo 6 are employees of Houston-based Citgo refining company, which is owned by Venezuela\u2019s state oil company, PDVSA. They had been lured to Venezuela three years ago for a business meeting and were arrested on corruption charges.<\/p>\n

Their arrest launched a purge by President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s government of PDVSA and at a time when relations between Caracas and Washington were crumbling as Venezuela plummeted into economic and social crisis.<\/p>\n

Five of the men were sentenced to prison terms of 8 years and 10 months, while one of them received a 13-year sentence. Defense attorney Jesus Loreto said the five with lesser terms could be released on parole in a couple of years.<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s Supreme Tribunal of Justice announced the verdicts and prison sentences but offered no other comment on the trial\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n

One of the men, Tomeu Vadell, has said in a letter written in a Caracas jail and provided exclusively to The Associated Press before the verdict that he had hopes for a fair trial so he could walk free with his name cleared and go home to his family in the United States.<\/p>\n

Despite his circumstances, Vadell held out hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the trial, the truth has proven undeniable,\u201d Vadell said in the four-page hand-written letter. \u201cIt proves that I am innocent.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m now reaching an intersection where if justice is done, I will be able to rebuild my life and try to compensate my family for all the lost moments,\u201d he added. \u201cThe light is intense \u2014 the hope is great \u2014 give me freedom.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Vadell said it was especially painful to be separated during the Thanksgiving season from his wife, three adult children and a newborn grandson he has never held.<\/p>\n

\"Dennysse
Dennysse Vadell sits between her daughters Veronica, right, and Cristina holding a digital photograph of father and husband Tomeu.<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s the first time Vadell, or any of the so-called Citgo 6, had spoken publicly since being arrested and charged with in a purported big corruption scheme. He has been held at a feared Caracas jail called El Helicoide.<\/p>\n

The others convicted are Gustavo C\u00e1rdenas, Jorge Toledo, brothers Jose Luis Zambrano and Alirio Zambrano, all now U.S. citizens. Jose Pereira, a permanent resident, received the longest sentence.<\/p>\n

They were also charged with embezzlement stemming from a never-executed proposal to refinance some $4 billion in Citgo bonds by offering a 50% stake in the company as collateral. Maduro at the time accused them of \u201ctreason.\u201d<\/p>\n

They all pleaded innocence.<\/p>\n

The men were summoned to the headquarters of PDVSA for what they were told was a budget meeting on Nov. 21, 2017. A corporate jet shuttled them to Caracas and they were told they would be home for Thanksgiving. Instead, military intelligence officers swarmed into the boardroom and hauled them off to jail.<\/p>\n

Their trial started four months ago and closing arguments took place Thursday. The judge immediately announced her verdict.<\/p>\n

The proceeding played out one day a week in a downtown Caracas court. Due to the pandemic, sessions were held in front of a bank of dormant elevators in a hallway, apparently to take advantage of air flowing through open windows.<\/p>\n

News<\/a> media and rights groups were denied access to the hearings. There was no response to a letter addressed to Judge Lorena Cornielles seeking permission for The Associated Press to observe.<\/p>\n

The office of Venezuela\u2019s chief prosecutor said prior to the verdict in a statement to AP that investigators found \u201cserious evidence\u201d that corroborated financial crimes potentially damaging to the state-run company.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Citgo case has developed normally during all the stages established by the Venezuelan criminal process,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

Loreto said his client appeared to have been caught up in a \u201cgeopolitical conflict\u201d of which he was not apart. He said Vadell\u2019s name never appeared on any of the documents prosecutors read into evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that refers to Tomeu in any way \u2014 directly or indirectly,\u201d the lawyer said. \u201cThis is the story of a good guy being held against his will for all the wrong reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who has negotiated the release of other Americans held by hostile governments, travel<\/a>ed to Caracas in July and met with Maduro.<\/p>\n

\"CITGO
CITGO oil executives Jose Angel Pereira, from left to right, Gustavo Cardenas, Jorge Toledo, Jose Luis Zambrano, Tomeu Vadell and Alirio Jose Zambrano, standing outside the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service, in Caracas, Venezuela.<\/span>AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He didn\u2019t win their freedom, but days later two of them \u2014 C\u00e1rdenas and Toledo \u2014 were freed from jail and put in house detention. Two weeks later, the long-delayed trial began.<\/p>\n

Richardson told AP that conversations with the Venezuelan government continue despite his meeting with Maduro being \u201ca little stormy.\u201d He said he believes there is an opening tied to President-elect Joe Biden and a desire by Maduro to improve relations with Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Venezuelans have been straight with me, but more progress needs to be made,\u201d Richardson said before the verdict. \u201cMy hope is to have something positive by Christmas.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not clear what approach Biden will take toward Maduro. Trump aggressively pressed to remove Maduro through sweeping financial sanctions and the U.S. Justice Department has indicted Maduro as a \u201cnarcoterrorist,\u201d offering a $15 million reward for his arrest.<\/p>\n

Vadell\u2019s letter steered clear of politics. He didn\u2019t mention Maduro or speak about his jailers, though he did express concern about the \u201cconsequences of repercussions\u201d of speaking out.<\/p>\n

With encouragement from his family, Vadell broke his silence, taking a risk relatives said was necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe it\u2019s more important that the light of hope illuminates us,\u201d Vadell wrote. \u201cMay the light of hope put an end to the sadness of my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

The five other men did not respond to invitations AP made through their lawyers to comment.<\/p>\n

Vadell\u2019s daughter, Cristina Vadell, said in a phone interview from Lake Charles that her father isn\u2019t the kind of person who seeks attention. Rather, he prefers to focus on work and his family.<\/p>\n

During his 35-year career with PDVSA and Citgo, Vadell ended up running a refinery in Lake Charles and then became vice president of refining. The letter attempts to expose this side of his life, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he was willing to take some risks and open some hearts to allow him to come home,\u201d she said. \u201cI think he\u2019s still wondering \u2018What happened?\u2019 He went to a work meeting and never came home.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“#Six American oil executives sentenced in Venezuela for corruption” Six American oil executives held for three years in Venezuela were found guilty of corruption charges by a judge Thursday and immediately sentenced to prison, dashing hopes of a quick release that would send them home to their families in the United States. Some relatives had…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":121487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/11\/C4057BBF-3DF3-4F3B-822F-71EA56E1285B.jpeg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[81965,117,72970,72916],"class_list":["post-121486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-11-27-20","tag-business","tag-oil","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}