By David Voreacos and Mort Lucoff
A businessman became the second defendant to plead guilty to conspiring to help Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government cover up a plot to influence Argentina's presidential election.
Carlos Kauffmann, 36, admitted Feb. 29 in federal court in Miami that he and four men tried to silence Florida businessman Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson. On Aug. 4, Antonini claimed he owned a suitcase containing $800,000 in cash seized at a Buenos Aires airport. Kauffmann admitted pressuring Antonini to tell no one that the cash came from Chavez's government and was intended for the campaign of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Antonini, who returned to south Florida after the cash seizure and secretly recorded Kauffmann and the other men for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, prosecutors said. As part of his guilty plea, Kaufmann admitted joining a discussion on Aug. 17 about the plot to silence Antonini, court records show.
``Carlos Kauffmann knowingly and willfully participated in this effort, which was directed by the government of Venezuela, to divert the responsibility for the seized funds from the government of Venezuela to Antonini,'' according to a written description of Kauffmann's actions made public today.
Fernandez was elected president Oct. 28, succeeding her husband, Nestor Kirchner.
`Minimal Participant'
Kauffmann, a Venezuelan citizen, and the other men were charged on Dec. 11 by federal authorities. Kauffmann is cooperating with U.S. prosecutors, and ``was a minimal participant in this offense,'' according to his plea agreement.
The Justice Department said the U.S. government won't seek the deportation of Kauffmann and his wife to Venezuela to protect their physical safety, nor will it object to ``their relocation to any country that will accept them,'' the plea agreement said. It said he will receive leniency at sentencing if he provides truthful and complete information.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard set his sentencing for May 23 for Kauffmann, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an unregistered agent of the Venezuelan government. His lawyer, Jack Denaro, didn't immediately return a call for comment.
Another defendant, Moises Maionica, pleaded guilty Jan. 25. Kauffmann and Maionica were charged with Franklin Duran, 40; Rodolfo Wanseele Paciello, 40; and Antonio Jose Canchica Gomez, 37. Canchica is considered a fugitive. Duran and Wanseele, along with Canchica, face trial on June 23.
Private Jet
Antonini flew on Aug. 4 from Caracas to Argentina on a private jet with officials of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, that nation's energy company, court papers show. Authorities said Energia Argentina SA, or Enarsa, Argentina's state energy company, chartered the Cessna Citation jet.
On that day, Duran met with a high-level official at Venezuela's intelligence agency who said he had been placed in charge of covering up the role of his country's government in the cash delivery, according to court papers in Kauffmann's case.
The official told Duran he wanted Antonini's help, according to the papers. Duran assured the official he had Antonini ``under his control,'' and Duran told Kauffmann about the conversation, according to the filings.
Kauffmann and Duran flew from Caracas to Miami on a private jet on Aug. 17 and met with Antonini to try to secure his help, according to the documents. On Aug. 23, Kauffmann and other defendants met with Antonini in a steakhouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, prosecutors said.
``Kauffmann told Antonini that it was not in Venezuela's best interests for Antonini to have any `problems' in Venezuela,'' according to the papers. Kauffmann attended no further meetings with Antonini, according to the papers.
Kauffmann and Duran are partners in Venezuela's largest privately owned petrochemical company, Industrias Venoco CA, and an oil-drilling company, Perfoalca, wrote Edward Shohat, Duran's lawyer, in court papers.
The case is U.S. v. Moises Maionica, 07-cr-20999, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida (Miami).
