U.S. jury convicts Venezuelan in "suitcase" plot
A Venezuelan businessman was convicted on Monday for his role in a plot to conceal what U.S. prosecutors say was an illicit contribution from his country's leftist government to the election campaign of Argentina's current president.
Franklin Duran, 41, was found guilty by a federal court jury in Miami of conspiracy and acting as an illegal foreign agent in the United States in a case dubbed the "suitcase scandal" by the Argentine media.
He faces up to 15 years in prison for coming to Miami last year in a bid to cover up the origins of a suitcase stuffed with more than $800,000 that a friend of his carried off a private jet as he tried to enter Argentina from Venezuela last year.
Duran's friend, dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, testified during Duran's eight-week trial that he unwittingly carried the suitcase into an airport in Buenos Aires last year and was unaware of its contents.
But Antonini, who has a home in Key Biscayne, Florida, later cooperated with the FBI and became a government witness.
His testimony at the trial, and clandestine FBI recordings of his meetings with Duran and other South American men involved in the case, helped prosecutors link the cash-stuffed suitcase to the Venezuelan government.
Testimony at the trial, by Antonini and two other men who pleaded guilty to U.S. charges stemming from the scandal, also helped underpin prosecutors' claims that the cash was intended for the election campaign of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the former first lady who won Argentina's presidential election last year.
Antonini testified that he was told the $800,000 was only part of a $5 million shipment of cash from oil-rich Venezuela to the Fernandez campaign.
The U.S. government's case against Duran included allegations that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez personally oversaw attempts to cover up the origins of the campaign gift.
Chavez and Fernandez have denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the Miami trial as part of a politically motivated attempt to embarrass them and tarnish their public image.
Sentencing of Duran was set for January 12. His attorney, Ed Shohat, said he would appeal the verdict.
(Reporting by Tom Brown; editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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Franklin Duran, 41, was found guilty by a federal court jury in Miami of conspiracy and acting as an illegal foreign agent in the United States in a case dubbed the "suitcase scandal" by the Argentine media.
He faces up to 15 years in prison for coming to Miami last year in a bid to cover up the origins of a suitcase stuffed with more than $800,000 that a friend of his carried off a private jet as he tried to enter Argentina from Venezuela last year.
Duran's friend, dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson, testified during Duran's eight-week trial that he unwittingly carried the suitcase into an airport in Buenos Aires last year and was unaware of its contents.
But Antonini, who has a home in Key Biscayne, Florida, later cooperated with the FBI and became a government witness.
His testimony at the trial, and clandestine FBI recordings of his meetings with Duran and other South American men involved in the case, helped prosecutors link the cash-stuffed suitcase to the Venezuelan government.
Testimony at the trial, by Antonini and two other men who pleaded guilty to U.S. charges stemming from the scandal, also helped underpin prosecutors' claims that the cash was intended for the election campaign of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the former first lady who won Argentina's presidential election last year.
Antonini testified that he was told the $800,000 was only part of a $5 million shipment of cash from oil-rich Venezuela to the Fernandez campaign.
The U.S. government's case against Duran included allegations that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez personally oversaw attempts to cover up the origins of the campaign gift.
Chavez and Fernandez have denied any wrongdoing and dismissed the Miami trial as part of a politically motivated attempt to embarrass them and tarnish their public image.
Sentencing of Duran was set for January 12. His attorney, Ed Shohat, said he would appeal the verdict.
(Reporting by Tom Brown; editing by Cynthia Osterman)
© Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Thomson Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters and its logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Thomson Reuters group of companies around the world.
Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
