There’s nothing more tempting for a mafia boss than a beautiful woman, especially if she’s a Venezuelan beauty queen. These women are trained to be stunning, competitive, and accommodating, and they’re never short of a powerful connection or politician vying for their attention.
Valentina Figuera, former Miss Grand International 2019 and model, has captured the heart of Daniel Uzcátegui Specht, a white-collar criminal who, along with his father, brought a briefcase to Antonini Wilson and embezzled funds from PDVSA during Chávez’s era.
She is his mistress; Uzcátegui is happily married (or so it seems on Instagram) to another former Venezuelan model named Verónica Leal. There isn’t much known about her, except that she holds five bank accounts in two tax havens (Switzerland and Barbados) where she proudly launders around $5 million of her husband’s fortune, a clear result of the massive embezzlement from the oil company.
On her part, Valentina doesn’t settle for scraps. Along the Francisco Fajardo highway in Caracas, a gigantic billboard showcasing Hello C.A., a women’s hair extension company, serves as her little dollar laundering operation in Venezuela.
Valentina is also affiliated with a VIP modeling agency, with shares held by former Miss Edymar Ramírez, who is involved with Alejandro Betancourt, a man who conceals a network of prostitution and money laundering beneath the guise of artistic sponsorship.
The connection stems from their participation in the International Tourism Pageant during the Barcelona Carnivals.
Verónica is the lady of the house; married to Uzcátegui and a partner in all of this fugitive’s ventures. She owns a real estate business in Spain that buys and sells properties. It’s known that she has ties with Luis Fernando Vuteff, son-in-law of the former metropolitan mayor Antonio Ledezma, who has also been accused by the US of being involved in a scheme to launder $1.2 billion from PDVSA.
Uzcátegui currently has an arrest order from the Venezuelan Public Ministry (MP) for being embroiled in a corruption scandal linked to heavyweight Tareck El Aissami.
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