Businessmen César Omaña and Julio Herrera Velutini, linked to Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo López, are facing problems with the United States justice in relation to two different cases of alleged corruption.
According to the indictment, Herrera Velutini, the former governor and a former FBI special agent, Mark Rossini, as well as two other men, are indicted on charges of conspiracy, bribery of federal programs and honest services fraud.
In particular, the US authorities maintain that the Italian-Venezuelan banker and Rossini allegedly promised to finance the electoral campaign of Vázquez Garced in 2020 in exchange for the dismissal of the then head of the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF), given that in 2019 the agency had subjected the Herrera Velutini bank to an investigation.
Likewise, it transpired that the businessman in question is linked to López via Gustavo Guaidó, brother of the Venezuelan opponent Juan Guaidó, as well as through Valentina Tintori, sister of López’s wife, according to the research portal Infodio.
Meanwhile, César Omaña is identified as one of the people who financed the failed coup of April 30, 2019 against the current president, Nicolás Maduro, also known as “Operation Libertad”. Despite the fact that the coup plotters did not achieve their main objective, López was removed from his house arrest by anti-Chavista forces during the events of the day, which later allowed him to isolate himself in the Spanish embassy in Caracas, moving to Madrid in October 2020.
The relationship between Omaña and López made headlines again after the businessman was held last weekend for about eight hours at the Miami airport (Florida, USA), for his alleged involvement in the illicit handling of the manufacturer’s funds. of Monómeros fertilizers, a branch of the state-owned Petrochemical company of Venezuela (Pequiven), which is located in Colombian territory and is controlled by Guaidó’s team.
A person familiar with the details of the arrest told the Expresa portal that Omaña had to show the content of his mobile phone, which would have made it possible to find evidence of conversations that compromise López in the management of Monómeros resources.