The status of the alleged transfer, by the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), of a sovereign bond valued at $2 billion to Kellmar Ltd and Tony Caplin, is as follows.
The president of the BCV, Nelson Merentes, has denied signing any documents in this regard. If Merentes’ denial is taken literally, it remains to be seen what legal actions he, the BCV, and the Venezuelan government will take against Kellmar Ltd and Tony Caplin for forgery of documents and signatures of Venezuelan government officials, which could potentially be a fairly elaborate scam.
According to sources familiar with the matter, the signatures of Merentes and Eudomar Tovar appearing in the documents are authentic.
Tony Caplin refused to comment over the phone regarding the authenticity of the documents. Instead, Caplin requested that questions be sent via email. This indicates that both his mobile number and email address, as listed in his resume attached to the published documents, are genuine.
Another source stated that Tony Caplin acknowledged accepting to participate in the project referred to in the documents (health projects in North, Central, South America, and CARICOM), after being invited by “a very distinguished firm” from the U.S. This is Caplin’s admission of the validity of part of the information contained in the documents, specifically related to the project. It also admits Caplin’s connection to the law firm Pruitt & Pruitt, located in Livingston, Alabama, as reflected in the documents.
Michelle Penney, an alleged officer of Credit Suisse in Rue de Laussane, Geneva, and presumed recipient of the BCV’s SWIFT MT760 instructions, was at that time “the Credit Suisse relationship manager covering Egypt and the UK.” Before this role, she spent over eight years at HSBC in London, Hong Kong, and Geneva. The information request sent to Ms. Penney, now with Morgan Stanley in Dubai, has not yet been responded to.
SWIFT MT760, as mentioned in the documents, is “a bank guarantee issued by the remitting bank, following instructions from its account holder, in favor of a particular transaction or counterparty. Since banks never risk their own money, clients’ funds are ‘blocked’ by the bank and held as collateral to issue the SWIFT. The SWIFT MT 760, therefore, is more than just a simple interbank message; it’s a complete negotiable instrument backed by liquid cash.” Thus, the alleged use of the SWIFT MT760 sent to Ms. Penney during her time with Credit Suisse—as collateral available for Kellmar Ltd / Tony Caplin—aligns with its genuine use.
The format of the SWIFT MT760, as it appears in the documents, includes the required information, as is normally expected in such transactions.
The SWIFT code referenced in the documents (CRESCHZZ80A) belongs to Credit Suisse. However, it’s worth noting that the code does not match any of the codes associated with the address details of Credit Suisse on Rue de Laussane, contained in MT760.
As of this writing, Anthony “Tony” Caplin, president of a UK NHS trust, commissioner of the UK Public Works Loan Board (linked to Her Majesty’s Treasury), and a member of the UK Medical Research Council, has admitted that he accepted to participate in a health facility construction/management project, with the lawyers at Pruitt & Pruitt of Livingston, Alabama, using a supposed SWIFT MT760 sent to Credit Suisse in Geneva, backed by a $2 billion sovereign bond from the Central Bank of Venezuela.
Email requests for comments sent to Caplin have not been answered. Email and fax requests for comments sent to Pruitt & Pruitt have also gone unanswered. The email request for comments sent to Michelle Penney has not received a response.
The Financial Services Authority and the UK Serious Fraud Office have been notified.
Venezuelan authorities have yet to announce what types of investigations will be conducted regarding the alleged forgery of documents and official signatures.