Venezuelan judge orders prison sentence for 6 U.S. oil executives

A Venezuelan judge on Thursday sentenced six US oil executives to prison after being convicted of corruption charges.

The six Citgo executives were sentenced to more than 8 years in prison each after being invited to Venezuela for a business meeting three years ago, according to the Associated Press.

Tomeu Vadell, Gustavo Cárdenas, Jorge Toledo, Jose Luis Zambrano, Alirio Zambrano and Jose Pereira are all accused of embezzlement linked to a $ 4 billion Citgo bond refinancing plan that never went through.

All of the men are currently US citizens with the exception of Pereira who is a permanent resident of the United States.

The Houston-based refining company is owned by Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA.

According to the cable service, the so-called Citgo 6s were summoned to Caracas for a budget meeting in November 2017. As they commuted to the nation’s capital, they were told they would be heading home first. Thanksgiving.

Instead, military officers met them at the conference hall and put them in jail, according to the AP. The trial began four months ago and final arguments were heard this year on Thanksgiving.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro accused the leaders of “treason”, but each of the leaders pleaded his innocence, according to the media outlet.

After the men were arrested, Maduro began a deep purge of Venezuela’s oil industry, which is based on the world’s largest reserves of crude oil. The AP reports that the head of PDVSA and the former petroleum minister were arrested among several others.

Media and rights groups were denied access to the trial and the process was largely blocked due to the pandemic.

Venezuela’s chief prosecutor told the PA in a statement: “The Citgo case has developed normally during all the stages established by the Venezuelan criminal procedure.”

Jesus Loreto, lawyer for Vadell, said his client was embroiled in a geopolitical conflict in which he was not involved and claimed that Vadell’s name did not appear anywhere in the court documents presented as evidence.

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (D) met with Maduro in July to try to negotiate the release of Citgo executives. Richardson has negotiated the release of American prisoners abroad in the past.

“I think the Venezuelans have been candid with me, but more progress needs to be made,” said Richardson. “My hope is to have something positive by Christmas.” Richardson believes Maduro will be more open to a Biden administration in hopes of a more favorable position with Washington.

President TrumpDonald John TrumpUSAID administrator tests positive for COVID-19 Kamala Harris, Stacey Abrams among nominees for Time magazine’s 2020 Person of the Year appeal decision, preventing him from replacing Trump in defamation lawsuit against E. Jean Carroll PLUS, along with many other world leaders, recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as Venezuela’s legitimate leader after a highly controversial election in 2018 that resulted in Maduro’s re-election.