$2-million to cover up suitcase?

The United States says Venezuela and Argentina tried to suppress a suspicious suitcase full of money.

By DAVID ADAMS, Times Latin American Correspondent
Published December 18, 2007

MIAMI - Venezuelan government agents allegedly offered $2-million to buy the silence of a South Florida man caught carrying a suitcase stuffed with politically incriminating cash, a U.S. prosecutor told a Miami court Monday. The hush money is only the latest revelation in an unfolding political scandal centering on the mysterious cash seized by customs agents in Argentina last August.

The case already has been dubbed "suitcase-gate" in Argentina after allegations that the cash was destined for the election campaign of Cristina Fernandez, who took office last week as the country's first elected female president. Argentine and Venezuelan officials have furiously rejected the allegations, saying they were cooked up by the Bush administration for political reasons.

Last week the Justice Department charged five men with involvement in a plot to cover up the source of nearly $800,000 found in the suitcase, implicating both the governments of Argentina and Venezuela. FBI surveillance photos and numerous recordings of conversations by the accused men "indicate that an agreement had been reached between the governments of Venezuela and Argentina in which the true source of those funds would be suppressed, and this whole problem will go away," Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Mulvihill told Monday's court hearing. Mulvihill has previously indicated that the $800,000 was only one of several payments from Venezuela to the campaign.

The man with the suitcase, Guido Antonini, 46, a dual U.S.-Venezuelan citizen who lives in Key Biscayne, is cooperating with the FBI, Mulvihill confirmed. Antonini wore a hidden microphone to capture the conspirators on tape, evidence in the case suggests.

Four of the men, three Venezuelans and a Uruguayan, appeared in court for a pretrial hearing on charges of illegally operating on U.S. soil as unregistered Venezuelan government agents. The fifth man remains a fugitive. Two of the men are former friends and business associates of Antonini. They are also joint owners of Venoco, a large petrochemical company in Venezuela that does business with the country's state oil company.

One of them, Carlos Kauffmann, 35, a wealthy Venezuelan businessman with property in Miami, is accused of threatening the family of Antonini if he refused to join the coverup. The other, Franklin Duran, 40, also lives in Key Biscayne and has been linked to Venezuelan arms deals. Their lawyers say they are innocent and made their fortunes legitimately.

A third Venezuelan, Moises Maionica, 32, is accused of coordinating meetings in Miami with Antonini, as well as phone calls to senior Venezuelan officials in the intelligence service and the office of the vice president. The fourth man in court Monday, Rodolfo Wanseele, 40, of Uruguay is accused of driving a suspected Venezuelan secret police agent to a meeting with Antonini at a Starbucks coffee shop north of Miami.

If convicted of acting as illegal foreign agents, they face up to 10 years in jail and $250,000 in fines.

[Last modified December 18, 2007, 09:24:19]