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AP reveals investigation into Venezuelan officials’ money laundering

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Joshua Goodman, Latin America correspondent, used deep source reporting to uncover an international investigation into how the former treasurer of Venezuela, who had once served as nurse to then-President Hugo Chávez, used a network of offshore shell companies and dodgy Swiss bankers to loot millions from Venezuela, hiding much of her unexplained wealth in gold.

Enlisting the aid of reporters Aritz Parra in Madrid, Jamey Keaten in Geneva and investigative researcher Randy Herschaft in New York, the resulting investigative article provided a rare look into how former officials in Venezuela used various money laundering schemes to raid the country’s coffers of an estimated $300 billion in two decades of socialist rule. An unexpected twist was the physical transfer of heavy gold bars — something previously unmentioned in court records — underscoring the lengths to which some prominent Venezuelans have gone to hide stolen wealth.

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