The branch of Banco Espírito Santo (BES) in the United States, Espirito Santo Bank, in Miami, helped Alejando Ceballos Jiménez, a Venezuelan construction tycoon, withdraw millions of dollars from Venezuela, according to “Express“.
According to this newspaper, which is part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the confidential reports of the FinCEN Files, an investigation by this consortium, show that BES Miami participated in fraudulent schemes involving transfers of large funds.
The article explains that BES Miami’s compliance department, charged with detecting money laundering schemes, handed over to FinCEN, the US authority responsible for investigating this type of white collar crime, two reports that Alejando Ceballos Jiménez was behind the movement of more than a hundred million dollars in 2013.
Compliance department reports argue that the Venezuelan tycoon was able to transfer $ 116 million out of Venezuela paid by the Venezuelan government through BES Miami for poorly substantiated services related to housing projects.
Alejando Ceballos Jiménez set up a company, registered in London, Sarleaf Limited, whose supposed shareholders were lawyers in Switzerland linked to money laundering schemes, which had previously only been reported in the press. Sarleaf opened an account at BES Miami and the compliance department realized that the real beneficiaries were Alejandro Ceballos Jiménez, his mother and brothers.
Now, it was to Sarleaf that Venezuela paid, between April 2013 and January 2014, 146 million dollars. The compliance department of BES Miami realized that $ 116 million left the Sarleaf account for other accounts at BES Miami itself and for other banks in other countries in a few months.
Of this 116 million dollars, 52.6 million were transferred to other accounts at BES Miami and 63.8 million were transferred to other banks. The Venezuelan tycoon’s son, Alejandro Andres Ceballos, received $ 44 million. Of this money, half went to an account in Switzerland held by the company Wexford Services, registered in Panama.
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