Son-in-law of top foe of Venezuela’s president sentenced to 30 months on money laundering charge

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy The son-in-law of a prominent Venezuelan opposition leader was sentenced Tuesday to two and a half years in prison for his role in a vast conspiracy to siphon $1.2 billion from the state-owned oil company, some of which allegedly landed into accounts controlled by President Nicolás Maduro ’s stepsons. Who would accept that amount of money so quickly?,” Vuteff told the Swiss prosecutors in Miami, explaining how over the next two years he was pressured to gradually transfer the money out of the accounts. Several others remain fugitives including Vuteff’s former boss, Ralph Steinmann, in a Swiss firm and one of their former clients, Raúl Gorrín, a billionaire media tycoon charged in October with ginning up a currency-exchange scheme using fake loan agreements to embezzle more than $1 billion from state-run oil company PDVSA at a time of collapsing crude production. “He has earned my trust, our affection.” As part of his plea agreement earlier this year, Vuteff agreed to forfeit over $4 million in unlawfully obtained assets, including real estate in Miami, Spain and Paraguay.