Nepmar Jesus Escalona Enriquez has admitted to his involvement in a money laundering scheme that included bribing foreign officials and defrauding the Venezuelan currency regulation authority, CADIVI, as well as Banesco Bank, the Central Bank of Venezuela. The scheme led to Banesco Bank transferring nearly $1.7 million into an account controlled by Enriquez and his accomplices.
According to a press release from the U.S. Justice Department, court records indicate that Enriquez, formerly a major in the Venezuelan National Guard and currently residing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, took part in a fraudulent scheme involving applications submitted to CADIVI. These applications were purportedly for food import financing but served to deceive Banesco Bank and Venezuelan customs authorities into releasing U.S. dollars to Enriquez and his co-conspirators outside of Venezuela.
The Justice Department press release also states that Enriquez confessed to coordinating bribes paid to Venezuelan officials with the aim of making their illicit activities less noticeable. He further admitted instructing an accomplice to wire transfer funds—U.S. dollars obtained through the scheme and bribery money—to four U.S. financial institutions. In total, more than $400,000 was wired across five transfers.
Upon pleading guilty to one count of money laundering conspiracy in a U.S. district court, as stated in the Justice Department press release, Enriquez now faces up to 20 years imprisonment. His sentencing is slated for May 23.
The investigation is being led by The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Miami Field Division, according to the same Justice Department press release.