Former Venezuelan military official pleads guilty to bribery, paying himself millions

From his home in Fort Lauderdale, a former Venezuelan military officer directed a complex scheme to borrow millions of dollars from Venezuela’s banks for financing food imports to the starving country.

It was all a fraud, Nepmar Jesus Escalona Enriquez admitted Monday in Miami federal court.

In reality, he orchestrated the transfers of $1.7 million to bank accounts in Brazil, South Florida and other parts of the world to enrich himself while paying bribes to Venezuelan government officials, according to his plea agreement. No food products were ever imported into Venezuela.

Escalona, 47, a former Venezuelan National Guard major, pleaded guilty to one count of a money laundering conspiracy involving paying bribes to Venezuelan officials and defrauding financial institutions between 2010 and 2017, a span when corruption escalated under the socialist regimes of the late president Hugo Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro.

Up to 20 years in prison

Escalona faces up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing May 23 before U.S. District Judge Robert Scola in Miami federal court.

Escolona submitted the fraudulent loan application through Venezuela’s government currency agency to the nation’s central bank and Banesco Bank, putting only $164,000 worth of bolivars into the fraudulent food-import financing deal, according to a factual statement filed with his plea agreement.

In doing so, the central bank and Banesco were deceived into releasing U.S. dollars to Brazilian bank accounts controlled by Escalona and two other co-conspirators, according to the statement.

Escolona and the two co-conspirators falsely stated on the loan applications that the money would be used for importing a chemical food additive from Brazil, the statement says. They also paid bribes to Venezuelan government officials to prevent the detection of the food-import scheme.

The illegal proceeds were then divided up among Escalona and the others, federal prosecutors said.

Five illicit wire transfers — proceeds and bribes totaling $420,847 — were made through Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America, UBS Bank and Mercantil Commercebank, according to prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney”s Office and Justice Department.