Venezuelan government officials received kickbacks in schemes involving the country's bonds, state oil company and National Guard, U.S. prosecutors said before the trial of a Venezuelan businessman.
Franklin Duran and his business partner, Carlos Kauffmann, funneled the kickbacks to officials in the government of President Hugo Chavez for more than eight years, prosecutors said today in a filing in federal court in Miami. Duran is scheduled for a Sept. 2 trial on charges he acted in the U.S. as an unregistered agent for Venezuela.
``Franklin Duran and Carlos Kauffmann amassed their financial wealth by doing the bidding of officials of the government of Venezuela,'' prosecutors wrote. ``Proof that Duran and Kauffmann jointly and improperly conspired'' with Venezuelan officials contradicts Duran's likely argument that ``his actions have been simply misinterpreted,'' according to the filing.
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