A former Venezuelan National Guard officer was sentenced on Thursday, May 24, 2024, to one year and one day in prison for his involvement in a money laundering scheme connected to bribery of foreign officials and fraudulent activities targeting foreign financial institutions.
Nepmar Jesus Escalona Enriquez, aged 47, hailing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and formerly of Venezuela, played a role in an illicit scheme aimed at financing purported food imports into Venezuela through bribery and deceptive practices, as per court records.
Escalona and his accomplices executed the scheme by submitting deceitful applications to Venezuela’s currency regulation authority, CADIVI, to deceive Banesco Bank, the Central Bank of Venezuela, and Venezuelan customs officials into releasing U.S. dollars outside Venezuela.
These fraudulent applications, ostensibly for food imports, were actually designed to enrich the conspirators.
This fraudulent activity led to the transfer of almost $1.7 million in U.S. dollars from Banesco Bank to an account controlled by the conspirators.
Escalona also admitted to orchestrating bribes to Venezuelan officials to avoid detection of their fraudulent activities.
In addition, Escalona confessed to instructing a co-conspirator to wire transfer proceeds of the fraud and bribe funds to four U.S. financial institutions, totaling approximately $420,847.
Escalona pleaded guilty on March 4 to one count of money laundering conspiracy.
The announcement was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, and Special Agent in Charge Deanne L. Reuter of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Miami Field Division.
The case is being investigated by the DEA’s Miami Field Division.
