[NYTr] Argentina-Venez: Case of the Cash-Stuffed Suitcase (continued) Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:34:43 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit [One of those arrested in Miami last week and accused of acting as "unregistereed agents of the Venezuelan government" was given bail today. The US is now claiming that these "agents" offered the cooperating Miami businessman, Guido Antonini Wilson, $2 million to hush up the so-called "secret contribution" of $800,000 from Venezuela to Christina Fernandez Kirchner's campaign in Argentina. Last week's stories had them threatening Antonini and the lives of his children. The FBI supposedly had this on tape, which meant Antonini was wearing a wire; today they say the conversations were not audiotaped, but videotaped. Today they also introduced "fresh details," i.e., the claim that Antonini was offered $2 million. It's all utterly ridiculous. As the Venezualans said, if Chavez wanted to give Fernandez big bucks, he could have done so himself. He didn't need to funnel it through some Miami-based weapons and oil trader. Argentine customs agents were the ones who seized the cash. Today the US admitted that Antonini is cooperating with them. Argentina has repeated their extradition request, pending since August. The Bloomberg stories below are fairly complete.-NY Transfer] PREVIOUS Coverage: "Argentina, Venezuela Accuse US of Smear Campaign " 12/14 http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/Week-of-Mon-20071210/072929.html AND: http://tinyurl.com/25qc8o [list of earlier stories] AFP via Google - Dec 17, 2007 http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gEI3kkODij1qrv3dkahmjlKRmA1A US claims Venezuela offered payment to hush up Argentine electoral fund MIAMI (AFP) b A US prosecutor claimed on Monday three covert Venezuelan agents offered two million dollars to hush up an alleged attempt to funnel 800,000 dollars from Venezuela to the electoral campaign of Cristina Kirchner, who is now Argentina's president. Kirchner earlier dismissed as "garbage" the claim that Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez sought to pump funds into her presidential campaign. That allegation was made on Friday after the Venezuelans were arrested in Miami last week and charged with failing to notify US authorities they were agents of the Venezuelan government. The arrests followed the seizure in August of a bag with 800,000 dollars in cash found in Buenos Aires aboard a chartered flight from Caracas. Guido Antonini, a dual US-Venezuelan national, who was carrying the suitcase, later flew back to his home in Miami, where the defendants allegedly approached him. The three Venezuelans offered two million dollars to Antonini to conceal the origin of the money and the fact it was directed "to the presidential campaign in Argentina," said Assistant US Attorney Thomas Mulvihill. Last week, the prosecutor said that Franklin Duran, one of the defendants, mentioned in a recorded conversation that the money was for the electoral campaign of Kirchner, who was sworn in as president on December 10. Chavez critics claim the firebrand Venezuelan president has pumped large amounts of cash into the presidential campaigns of fellow-leftists in Latin America over recent years. Argentina's new president and her predecessor, husband Nestor Kirchner, are considered close allies of Chavez. *** Bloomberg - Dec 17, 2007 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=aRsIc5afjUMk&refer=latin_america U.S. Judge Grants Bail for One in `Suitcase Scandal' By David Voreacos Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- A judge granted bail to one of four men accused of intimidating a U.S. citizen who carried $800,000 in cash to Argentina allegedly for the election campaign of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. The men were arrested Dec. 11 in Miami on charges of acting as unregistered agents of Venezuela. U.S. prosecutors said the men tried to coerce Florida businessman Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson to tell no one about the source and destination of cash he carried from Venezuela on Aug. 4. Authorities seized the money at the Buenos Aires airport. U.S. Magistrate Judge William Turnoff in Miami set bail at $150,000 for Rodolfo Edgardo Wanseele Paciello, 40. Turnoff delayed his order for 48 hours to allow prosecutors to appeal. Another judge denied bail last week to the other men: Moises Maionica, 36; Franklin Duran, 40; and Carlos Kauffmann, 35. ``There's no question that what he is charged with is a very serious and grave matter,'' Turnoff said of Wanseele Paciello. ``I cannot find by clear and convincing evidence that he is a danger to the community and a risk of flight.'' The criminal charges prompted both Kirchner, who was elected Oct. 29, and the administration of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to criticize the U.S. for trying to discredit their governments. The incident, dubbed ``the suitcase scandal'' by the Argentine media, prompted Chavez critics to point to the incident as an example of how he may be using his country's oil wealth to promote socialism in Latin America. A fifth suspect, Antonio Jose Canchica Gomez, 37, remains at large. The case is expected to go to a federal grand jury in Miami for possible indictment. All are Venezuelan except Wanseele Paciello, who is Uruguayan. Argentine Warrant Antonini Wilson, who has business ties to Venezuela, flew from Caracas to Buenos Aires aboard a plane chartered by Argentina's state energy company. Argentine customs agents seized the money without charging him. Antonini Wilson, a citizen of the U.S. and Venezuela, returned to Florida. An Argentine judge has issued a warrant for Antonini Wilson to answer questions. At the hearing today, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Mulvihill revealed that Antonini Wilson had been offered $2 million on behalf of the Venezuelan government. Mulvihill also disclosed that Antonini Wilson has been cooperating with prosecutors, a point not stated last week in an arrest affidavit filed in the case by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Recorded Conversations U.S. authorities say that less than three weeks after Antonini Wilson's entry into Argentina, agents of Venezuela began intimidating him in Florida to keep silent about the source and destination of the cash. The FBI based its case on recorded conversations and cooperating witnesses. Duran told Antonini Wilson he'd spoken with Venezuela's vice president and the country's Intelligence and Preventive Services Directorate about the donation, FBI agent Michael Lasiewicki wrote in an affidavit. Duran told him ``authorities in both Argentina and Venezuela would pursue'' him if he ``said that the seized funds did not belong to him,'' according to the document. Kauffmann said his future actions could put the lives of his children at risk, Lasiewicki wrote. Duran told Antonini Wilson that ``the people in Venezuela and Argentina wanted'' his ``mess to be solved so that the truth didn't come out,'' the agent said. Maionica told Antonini Wilson that Venezuela's state oil company ``would pay for all the expenses and financial penalties that Antonini might incur as a result of the seizure of the $800,000,'' the affidavit said. Oct. 27 Flight The affidavit said Canchica Gomez flew to Miami on Oct. 27 and met the next day with Antonini Wilson in Plantation, Florida. Canchica Gomez told Antonini Wilson to sign over a power of attorney and that he ``would be skillfully and discretely helped,'' the affidavit said. It said Wanseele Paciello drove Canchica Gomez to the meeting and conducted counter-surveillance. At the bail hearing, Mulvihill and federal public defender Sowmya Bharathi offered fresh details about Wanseele Paciello, a native of Uruguay who came to the U.S. in 1999 or 2000. Wanseele Paciello lives alone in Miami and has worked for the past five years at an import-export company, where he earns $51,000 a year, said Bharathi, his attorney. Mulvihill said Wanseele Paciello drove Canchica Gomez to a Starbucks restaurant in Plantation. FBI agents conducted surveillance of the meeting while Wanseele Paciello did counter- surveillance, the prosecutor said. He moved his white Ford Escort several times during the meeting, Mulvihill said. After the meeting, Wanseele Paciello tried to elude detection by driving more than 40 miles to reach a casino that was only about seven miles away, the prosecutor said. He changed speeds as he drove, at one point going only 35 miles per hour in a 70 miles per hour zone, Mulvihill said. FBI Testimony An FBI agent, Brian Young, testified about the surveillance. He said that Wanseele Paciello was not on audiotape, although agents made videotapes of him. On Dec. 11, hours before the arrests, Maionica, Duran and another unidentified person talked to Antonini Wilson about ``the creation of a false paper trail to conceal the true source and purpose'' of the money, according to the affidavit. Mulvihill said at a hearing last week that the men were arrested last week because Duran and Kauffmann, two ``extremely wealthy individuals,'' were preparing to fly that night to Venezuela on Duran's plane. The cash seizure led to the resignation of a vice president at Venezuela's state oil company and the firing of the head of an Argentine government agency. Argentine authorities later charged Antonini Wilson with fraud. Argentine law bars foreigners from making secret political donations or bringing in undeclared cash. The case is U.S. v. Moises Maionica, 07-mj-3513, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami). *** Bloomberg - Dec 17, 2007 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=avj9DgBq3bkY&refer=latin_america Argentine Cabinet Chief Asks U.S. to Extradite Wilson By Eliana Raszewski Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Argentina's Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernandez urged the U.S. to extradite Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, who is cooperating with a U.S. investigation of alleged illegal foreign agents. Antonini Wilson was stopped Aug. 4 at a Buenos Aires airport with $790,550 of undeclared cash and is now back in the U.S. He is at the center of an international dispute over whether he carried Venezuelan money destined for President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's election campaign. ``If the U.S. wants to cooperate, the best thing it can do is to send Antonini Wilson,'' Fernandez said in an interview with Radio America in Buenos Aires. The U.S. must give Argentine courts the opportunity to question Antonini Wilson, Fernandez said. The U.S. charges were rejected by Argentine President Fernandez and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who last week pledged to further strengthen their ties. ``Antonini Wilson stopped being an accused and has been converted into a victim,'' Fernandez said. ``The effect of this is that he'll never be extradited.'' Suitcase Antonini Wilson arrived in Buenos Aires aboard a plane chartered by Argentina's state energy company Enarsa in a flight from Venezuela with officials of both countries' energy companies. ``Nobody in the U.S. is investigating what happened with the suitcase, what they are investigating is the presence of alleged foreign government officials acting without being registered,'' said Fernandez, the cabinet chief. Claudio Uberti, the head of an Argentine agency that controls highway concessions, was fired for allowing Antonini Wilson on the government-chartered plane. Cabinet Chief Fernandez said Aug. 10 that Antonini Wilson was allowed on the plane at the behest of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, Venezuela's state-run oil company. Venezuela's information minister Willian Lara today charged that the U.S. is using the investigation as a ``campaign'' to undermine the leadership of the South American countries and discrediting Chavez and Argentine President Fernandez. ``They'll let statements lacking credibility fly to strengthen their campaign against the leaders of Latin America,'' he said. A U.S. judge today granted bail to one of four men accused of acting as illegal foreign agents by intimidating Antonini Wilson. Prosecutors said the men tried to coerce Florida businessman Antonini Wilson to tell no one about the source and destination of the cash. * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================