The court in West Palm Beach, Florida, called a hearing for next week, in which a former Venezuelan banker sentenced in the United States is called to testify in the case of Claudia Patricia Díaz Guillén. The woman is a former national treasurer of Venezuela, and she was extradited from Spain to the United States on money laundering charges.
The hearing on May 24 will deal specifically with the possible conflict of interest that could mean the fact that Díaz’s lawyer, Marissel Descalzo, previously represented the defendant in a case related to hers.
Former banker and the case of Claudia Díaz
This is also Venezuelan Gabriel Arturo Jiménez Aray, former owner of Banco Peravia in the Dominican Republic. He was sentenced to three years in prison in November 2019 in a money laundering conspiracy case.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, in Jiménez Aray’s trial, Marissel Descalzo provided information about the assets owned by Díaz. And that could play against the now accused; specifically with regard to the possibility of awaiting trial outside of prison on bail.
The issue was brought up by the Prosecutor’s Office in the second hearing held since Díaz’s arrival in the United States on May 12. And it delayed the judge’s decision on whether the accused awaits the trial in preventive detention, as the prosecutors want; or on bail, as requested by the defense, which denies that there is a flight risk.
The court decided to hold a hearing only on the conflict of interest. It determined that immediately after or whenever it deems it, the hearing will continue to deal with the requests of the defense and the Prosecutor’s Office about where Díaz should remain until the trial is held.
Defense and Prosecution
In a joint petition addressed to the court this Thursday, both parties request that a conflict-free criminal lawyer be appointed for Gabriel Arturo Jiménez Array to represent him at the hearing on the 24th. The judge ordered that he testify in person or by Zoom.
That new lawyer should be appointed before the hearing is held, according to the joint document from both parties.
“Chavez’s Nurse”
Díaz is known as “Hugo Chávez’s nurse”, as she was part of the medical team of which he was president of Venezuela. Who later named her national treasurer, a position she held from 2011 to 2013.
The accusations against her are money laundering conspiracy and money laundering. And they have to do with a million-dollar corruption plot to benefit businessmen with favorable currency exchange rates.
Díaz’s husband, Adrián José Velásquez Figueroa, also pending extradition from Spain, was the president’s security chief.
Those popularly known as Chavez’s “nurse” and “bodyguard” established their residence in Spain in 2016. They have two minor children, according to trial documents.
Barefoot assures in the bail request for his client that “there is no risk of flight.” He argues that, among other reasons, neither Díaz nor her husband have “sufficient assets either inside or outside the United States to pay for the escape and they cannot return to Venezuela.”
Returning to their native country would be “the equivalent of endangering their own lives since they were expelled from Venezuela by the secret police in 2013,” the lawyer said.
The Prosecutor’s Office, among the reasons for requesting that Díaz remain in prison, mentioned his strong ties with the Venezuelan government.
Raul Gorrin
Raúl Gorrín Belisario, owner and president of the Venezuelan channel Globovisión, is accused in the same case as Díaz Guillén. He is considered a fugitive by the United States justice system and was formally charged in August 2018 as an accomplice of “conspiracy to launder money and money laundering.”
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Gorrín paid millions of dollars in bribes to Díaz Guillen and another former Venezuelan national treasurer, Alejandro Andrade. The latter pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2018, for securing the rights to conduct foreign exchange transactions at favorable rates.