Syrian-Venezuelan businessman Naman Wakil has been arrested in Miami: they accuse him of having amassed an illicit fortune in contracts with the regime of Nicolás Maduro

US federal agents arrested and charged Venezuelan businessman of Syrian origin Naman Wakil on Tuesday be part of a network of money laundering, as well as knead a “illicit fortune” in food and oil contracts with the Venezuelan regimelocal media reported.

Wakil, who owns a luxury apartment in Coconut Grove, near Miami, is accused by authorities of allegedly invest in this condominium and other real estate assets part of the “illegal profits” reached agreements with the Venezuelan regime, the newspaper reported on Tuesday Miami Herald.

The arrest of Wakil, 59, was carried out by officers from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the country’s official body responsible for investigating corruption and money laundering cases involving Venezuelans in Miami.

The Wakil case is the most recent of arrests of businessmen with political ties to Venezuela accused by Miami courts of illicit enrichment enjoying personal relationships with senior regime officials in the South American country.

The name of Wakil, a businessman of Syrian origin, rose to prominence in 2016 after the scandal of Panamanian papers, which involved secret shell companies established in offshore bank accounts by wealthy clients of a Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca.

The accounts were opened to help the law firm’s clients hide money, make investments abroad and evade taxes, according to investigative reports that released the Miami Herald and other means.

According to a 2015 article by the American publishing house McClatchy, owner of the Miami Herald, A Miami-based Citigroup banker emailed the Panamanian law firm with a question about a wealthy client who needed help.

Leaked emails from Mossack Fonseca identified that client as Wakil, a businessman with a fortune of around $ 400 million and business interests in North Carolina and Florida..

The Panamanian law firm offered to set up a series of offshore trusts and companies for the client. One year later, Wakil was involved in a case that linked him to a Venezuelan general in an alleged procurement scam with which he allegedly raised $ 76 millionthe aforementioned South Florida newspaper added.

In 2019, financial reporting firm Bloomberg described Wakil as a former street vendor who accumulated great wealth by purchasing discounted meat products which were then sold at extremely inflated prices to the Venezuelan regime.

Wakil had a close relationship with a Venezuelan army major general who oversaw billions of dollars in food contracts, according to a Venezuelan audit that mentions the Miami Herald.

(With information from EFE)

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