Probe of Venezuelan Bribery Scandal Widens With Latest Charges
- Former head of PDVSA unit, two European asset managers charged
- Indictment is part of U.S. prosecution of $1 billion scheme
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The former president of a unit of Petroleos de Venezuela SA and two European wealth managers were charged with money laundering as a U.S. probe into a $1 billion bribery scheme expands.
The three charged are Javier Alvarado Ochoa, a Venezuelan citizen and former president of PDVSA purchasing unit Bariven, and asset managers Daisy Teresa Rafoi Bleuler, a Swiss citizen, and Paulo Jorge da Costa Casqueiro Murta, a citizen of Switzerland and Portugal, according to an indictment unsealed Friday in federal court in Houston. They were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering as well.