Venezuelan billionaire once probed by US now has Pentagon oil deal
CARACAS/MIAMI: The billionaire who helped broker the Trump administration’s sweeping long-term oil deal with Venezuela was until recently a target of US money-laundering investigations involving funds embezzled from the state-owned oil company PDVSA.
Venezuelan billionaire Alejandro Betancourt, once subject to US money-laundering investigations, now collaborates with the Pentagon on an oil deal with Caracas. The agreement grants the US access to about one-fifth of Venezuela's crude reserves for decades, while the Pentagon receives 35% stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, Betancourt's company.
The State Department acquires the right to buy 20% of NABEP's oil at cost and enjoys preferential access to the remaining 80% of output. Betancourt's assistance to the US is believed to have played a crucial role in the 2021 coup that removed former President Maduro from power. Betancourt, who has faced legal challenges in the US, Spain, and Switzerland, is now considered Washington's key partner in the unusual oil agreement.
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