Feds auction off prized horses of ex-Venezuela treasurer who got rich as socialist country crumbled

[TomSea]

Feds auction off prized horses of ex-Venezuela treasurer who got rich as socialist country crumbled
Barnini Chakraborty

MIAMI -- As Venezuela's path of socialism was going bust and millions of people were drowning in poverty without access to adequate healthcare or even food, a small group of military leaders, politicians and businessmen siphoned billions from the government that went straight into their pockets.

One of the worst offenders is Venezuela's former national treasurer Alejandro Andrade, who teamed up with other shady characters to pilfer more than $1 billion from his government's coffers. Andrade had been the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's best friend and personal bodyguard before rising to the role of treasurer and hitting pay dirt.

With his country crumbling around him, Andrade took his money and moved to the exclusive South Florida enclave of Wellington where he and his family lived like royalty.


Bonjovi is one of several European show jumping horses who will be up for auction (CWS Marketing)

Read more with pictures of some of these horses at: https://www.foxnews.com/world/feds-auction-off-prized-horses-of-ex-venezuela-treasurer-who-got-rich-as-socalist-country-crumbled

Fox has a few more stories like this, beware sometimes and a bit like in Scarface, when you've got someone from other nations that are known to deal in drugs or other matters, the government, showing up with lots of money. Before the drug wars, the government was known for cleaning up the coffers, sacking the treasury, so this has been going on in Latin America for some time. I hate to say "dirty money", you have some honestly made billionaires I gather there like Mexican Billionaire Carlos Slim but others should be questioned.

[TomSea]

We believe in the free market but the Chinese, Saudis and other Gulf Country Arabs, Latin American crooks buying up properties, some of this needs to be limited.  Of course, America and a few other choice sites is where they want to buy. It's still a disturbing trend.

Drug money is billions and billions. So what do they do? Just sit on it?

[LadyLiberty]

Reminds me of this article (which is almost 2 years old):

Corrupt Businessmen Looted Venezuela, and Now Many Live Quietly in Houston and Miami
Zach Despart | April 18, 2017 | 4:00am


Valentina Villafane was sitting in her second-grade classroom when the tear gas canister exploded. The principal of her private school outside Barquisimeto, Venezuela, saw it first — an errant volley from a national guardsman that flew between the bars of the school’s gate and rolled to the front door. The principal shouted for the students to run to the back of the building as gas plumed at the entrance.

As Valentina huddled with her classmates, teachers brought jars of vinegar from the cafeteria and showed the children how to apply it to their faces to protect against the gas. They waited for hours, trapped as desperate Barquisimetanos clashed with police outside.

“I was scared and I almost cried,” Valentina recalls in a telephone interview from Venezuela.

More:  https://www.houstonpress.com/news/many-corrupt-venezuelans-hide-in-houston-and-miami-9335232

I also suspect that the rich Venezuelan who recently built this compound on the island of Little Exuma got his money through corruption and got out while he could:  https://www.google.com/maps/place/Exuma,+The+Bahamas/@23.4546026,-75.6354673,171m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x8931c7d32da2849b:0x8e03ec04218cabeb!8m2!3d23.6192598!4d-75.9695465

[TomSea]

There are more effective money laundering laws now, where they can catch ill-gotten transactions. This fellow probably could get away with it because it was about government monies more than drug money.

But make no mistake about it, the Venezuelan government is suppose to be involved in the drug trade, two of Maduro's relatives have been sanctioned over it.

https://www.newsweek.com/venezuela-president-nicolas-maduros-relatives-indicted-us-cocaine-smuggling-393473

I thought his brother had been too as a matter of fact.