Alvaro Pulido Vargas, a/k/a German Enrique Rubio Salas, a/k/a "Cuchi" ("Pulido"), a Colombian citizen, controlled several companies, including Group Grand Limited and Asasi Food FZE, that obtained contracts from Venezuelan state-owned entities to provide food and medicine to Venezuela.
Jose Gregorio Vielma-Mora was the Governor of the Venezuelan State of Tachira from 2012 through 2017. Vielma-Mora oversaw Comercializadora de Bienes Y Servicios Del Estado Tachira ("COBISERTA''), which was a company owned and controlled by the State of Tachira that, among other things, purchased food for the people of Tachira.
Emmanuel Enrique Rubio Gonzalez ("Rubio"), a Colombian citizen, was the son of Pulido.
Carlos Rolando Lizcano Manrique ("Lizcano") was a Colombian citizen.
Ana Guillermo Luis ("Guillermo") was a dual Venezuelan and Spanish citizen.
According to the documents in this case, between about July 2015 and 2020, Pulido, Vielma-Mora, Rubio, Lizcano, and Guillermo conspired with others to launder the proceeds of an illegal bribery scheme in Venezuela. The defendants allegedly obtained contracts with Venezuelan governmental entities, including COBISERTA and Coporacion Venezolana de Comercio Exterior ("CORPOVEX"), to import and distribute boxes of food and medicine in Venezuela through the Venezuelan food and medicine distribution program, Comite Local de Abastecimiento y Produccion ("CLAP"), by paying bribes to Venezuelan government officials, including Vielma-Mora. The defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly inflated the costs of the contracts to pay the bribes and unjustly enrich themselves. In all, the defendants and their co-conspirators allegedly received approximately $1.6 billion from the Republic of Venezuela.
On October 7, 2021, the DOJ filed a two count indictment in the Southern District of Florida against Pulido, Vielma-Mora, Rubio, Lizcano, and Guillermo alleging a conspiracy to commit money laundering as well as direct money laundering violations. On November 8, 2021, the court transferred all five defendants to fugitive status.
This case is ongoing.
In a related proceeding initiated on September 11, 2023, the DOJ filed a single count information in the Southern District of Florida against Orlando Alfonso Contreras Saab alleging a conspiracy to violate the antibribery provisions of the FCPA.
Pulido was also charged in 2019 in a separate proceeding in connection with a related bribery scheme.
