A Venezuelan man has pleaded guilty in a scheme to cover up the source of US$800,000 in a suitcase seized in Argentina, where it was allegedly sent by Venezuelans as a donation to Cristina Fernandez's presidential campaign.
Moises Maionica, 36, on Friday admitted to acting as an unregistered foreign government agent in the US. He could be sentenced to up to 15 years for this and a related conspiracy count, but is cooperating with prosecutors and thus could get a reduced sentence.
US officials said Maionica and four others tried to hide the Venezuelan source of the cash, which was carried into Argentina in August by dual US-Venezuelan citizen Guido Antonini Wilson, now wanted by Argentina on money laundering charges.
Instead of sending Antonini Wilson back to Argentina, US investigators wired him with a recording device in Florida and gathered evidence against the alleged Venezuelan agents who pressured him to conceal the money's source, according to court documents.
Antonini was apparently a last-minute passenger on a chartered plane that also carried officials from Venezuela's state oil company. An unidentified passenger asked Antonini to carry the cash-laden suitcase through customs in Buenos Aires, prosecutors said in court on Friday.
Maionica admitted arranging calls between Antonini and a senior official in Venezuela's intelligence agency, which the FBI said it recorded. He also acknowledged that he met with Antonini and the other suspected agents: Venezuelans Carlos Kauffmann, 35, Franklin Duran, 40, and Uruguayan Rodolfo Wanseele, 40.
All have pleaded not guilty and face up to 10 years in prison and US$250,000 in fines if convicted at trial, now set for March. Another Venezuelan charged in the case, Antonio Jose Canchica Gomez, has not been found. Maionica's sentencing is scheduled for April 4.
According to the FBI, it was Duran who was recorded telling Antonini the money was for the campaign of Fernandez, who was later elected despite the scandal.
The governments of Argentina and Venezuela have bitterly denounced the US investigation as politically motivated, which the Bush administration has denied.
In Caracas, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro denied Maionica was an agent, saying "that person lies shamelessly."
"He's not an agent of our government," Maduro told reporters. "That same Venezuelan man said the opposite 15 days ago. Who knows what sort of thing, what blackmail was used to make him say just the opposite."
Ruben Oliva, Maionica's attorney, said his client had been in the US getting ready to take a cruise and got involved in the scheme after he received a call from a high-ranking Venezuelan official asking him to help Antonini Wilson.
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