Alejandro Betancourt, main head of Derwick Associates. (Photo Courtesy)
The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz has sent a rogatory commission to Venezuela for the country’s authorities to certify whether the justice system controlled by the regime of Nicolás Maduro archived criminal cases against businessman Alejandro Betancourt, who is being charged in Spain for tax crimes and money laundering. The request seeks to verify if Betancourt lied when he claimed he had already been exonerated in Venezuela for the same facts currently under investigation in Madrid. According to informatuion from El Periódico.
Betancourt, journalistically identified as one of the “bolichicos,” is co-founder of Derwick Associates and has made significant investments in the Venezuelan energy sector. A report from the Internal Affairs of the National Police linked him to “multiple cases of corruption in Venezuela and the United States.” However, the businessman argues that the open cases in his home country have been archived, a claim that is now being tested by the investigating magistrate.
Alejandro Betancourt: The multiple informant in the dock.
The investigation in the National Court focuses on alleged crimes against the public treasury and money laundering from Venezuelan state-owned enterprises, including Petróleos de Venezuela. According to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, those under investigation would have looted public funds and acquired high-value properties in Spain through front companies, using illicitly obtained money.
Pedraz’s move resembles the strategy used by businessman Raúl Antonio Gorrín, who managed to have a case archived in Spain after claiming he had been exonerated in Venezuela. In that procedure, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office warned about the “lack of independence in the Venezuelan judicial system,” a situation documented by international organizations, including mechanisms of the United Nations and the inter-American system.
On June 17, 2025, the Anti-Corruption office filed a complaint against Betancourt, his cousin Pedro José de Jesús Benito Trebbau, businessman Francisco Convit Guruceaga, and others involved, as reported by El País. While a case has already been closed in Spain, legal sources indicate that in the United States some individuals involved have acknowledged facts related to the plot. Despite this, those under investigation maintain before the National Court that the funds invested in Spain come from family inheritances and legal businesses, a narrative that now clashes with the progress of judicial inquiries.