Photo Courtesy – ICE
Raúl Gorrín is once again at the center of investigations into transnational corruption linked to the power structure in Venezuela. His background as a financial operator, intermediary for state contracts, and beneficiary of irregular currency schemes places him as a strategic player with direct knowledge of operations involving Nicolás Maduro, Cilia Flores, and their closest relatives.
U.S. authorities are managing several legal cases that directly accuse Gorrín not only of participating in money laundering schemes related to PDVSA but also of channeling funds that ultimately benefited close associates of the Maduro-Flores inner circle, especially Cilia Flores’ children.
Lucrative Currency Differential Operations
Investigations conducted by U.S. judicial authorities have uncovered how Raúl Gorrín and Alejandro Betancourt structured a series of financial contracts with PDVSA that effectively served as a mechanism to exploit currency differentials. The scheme involved lending bolívares to PDVSA within Venezuela and receiving payment in dollars at highly favorable rates for lenders. This way, amounts in local currency transformed into hundreds of millions of dollars through payments channeled via offshore companies and international accounts. One of the initial contracts turned over 7 billion bolívares into nearly 600 million dollars, a tactic that was subsequently replicated and expanded. The shell companies used, Rantor Capital C.A. and Eaton Global Services, were associated with Gorrín, with the latter registered in Hong Kong, as we exclusively published in this medium.
The opaque billion-dollar currency operations of PDVSA with Alejandro Betancourt and Raúl Gorrín
This web of companies, devoid of actual economic activity, and intermediary figures reveals the operation of extracting public resources through opaque currency mechanisms. Part of the generated profits were distributed among top officials of PDVSA and the Ministry of Petroleum, advisors, bankers, financial operators, and relatives of Maduro and Flores. Gorrín, for his part, used the resources obtained to bolster the regime’s communications hegemony by acquiring media outlets like the newspaper El Universal and the news channel Globovisión.
Money Flight Operation: The Money Trail and Links to the Presidential Family
One of the clearest and most documented cases by the U.S. against Raúl Gorrín pertains to the Money Flight Operation, a multimillion-dollar criminal scheme that allowed Gorrín and others to access privileged currency exchange contracts with PDVSA in exchange for bribes.
Part of those funds – according to judicial documents and financial reconstructions analyzed – were reportedly transferred to structures controlled by Cilia Flores’ children, using shell companies registered in various jurisdictions. This financial circuit, with Gorrín as the intermediary and beneficiary, reveals how the plunder from oil revenue was split between private operators and members of the presidential entourage, consolidating a model of corruption shielded by political impunity. Among those investigated in this case, besides Raúl Gorrín, are Francisco Convit Guruceaga (Derwick Associates), Carlos Erik Malpica Flores (PDVSA’s finance vice president), Víctor Aular Blanco, José Amparan Croquer, Carmelo Urdaneta Aquí, Abraham Ortega, and Cilia’s sons: Walter J. Gavidia Flores, Yosser D. Gavidia Flores, and Yoswal A. Gavidia Flores.
As for Maduro’s son, Nicolás Maduro Guerra – sanctioned by the Treasury Department – is included in the accusation of drug trafficking and corruption that keeps his father imprisoned in a New York jail awaiting trial.
THE LOOTING OF PDVSA: THE TESTIMONY FROM THE KEY WITNESS
A Witness with Strategic Information
The documentation reviewed by various foreign prosecutors, as well as contracts, bank transfers, and communications seized in international processes derived from the Money Flight Operation, place Raúl Gorrín in a unique position: he has firsthand knowledge of who participated, how the payments were structured, and where the funds were directed.
Consulted analysts believe this information could be determinant in prosecuting Nicolás Maduro and his inner circle, especially due to the direct connection between the misappropriated money from PDVSA and the benefits received by relatives.
Although some cases against Gorrín were neutralized based on a timely express dismissal granted by a Venezuelan court, the international file remains open. In the U.S. and other jurisdictions, investigations into money laundering, conspiracy, and bribery directly linked to the Money Flight Operation persist.
His involvement in this case and in schemes favoring Nicolás Maduro’s stepchildren makes him a key source of information about the internal workings of state looting. If he chooses to cooperate with international justice, he could provide crucial pieces in the trial against Maduro and Flores, as well as dismantling the corrupt financial architecture that sustained the regime for years.
Following the official secrecy surrounding the arrest of Raúl Gorrín and Alex Saab in Caracas this Wednesday, in which U.S. authorities and members of SEBIN allegedly participated, many questions remain unanswered.