Swiss freeze assets of Maduro-linked businessman with Luxembourg ties

It has been reported that:-

• Nicolás Maduro, his wife, Cilia Flores and associates, including Alejandro Betancourt Lopez, are on a list of “politically exposed persons abroad and their associates” whose assets have been frozen by Switzerland.
• Venezuelan businessman Alejandro Betancourt López, who has links to four companies listed on the Luxembourg Business Register, is among the associates of ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro whose assets have been frozen by Switzerland.

The Grand Duchy’s government says it has ‘no information about assets belonging to Nicolás Maduro in Luxembourg’

A spokesperson for the finance ministry told Luxembourg Times on Tuesday.

• Luxembourg is not taking any action against Maduro or his associates, because he is “not designated [as sanctioned] by the EU or the UN,
•  “The Ministry of Finance has no information about assets belonging to Nicolás Maduro in Luxembourg,”

The Federal Council of Switzerland

• Announced the freeze on assets in the country held by Maduro and other persons associated with him on Monday as a “precautionary measure” following the US operation to take Maduro and his wife to face charges in New York.
• Said it wanted “to ensure that any illicitly acquired assets cannot be transferred out of Switzerland in the current situation.”

The complete list as of Monday included approximately 37 names.

Switzerland has had some sanctions against Venezuela in force since 2018. , including asset freezes. The country’s interim president, Delcy Rodríguez, was among those sanctioned at the time.

OpenLux investigation

• Betancourt López was first linked with the Grand Duchy in reports by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and its associated media outlets as part of the OpenLux investigation in 2021.
• The reports claimed that Betancourt López had close ties to Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez.

Betancourt’s lawyers told the OCCRP in 2021 that their client used his companies for legitimate investments and has not hidden himself or them from the public.

• “In fact, his interest in Luxembourg companies is publicly disclosed for the world to see,”

Four companies The businessman was linked to

• Latin America Ventures SARL,
• Which, in August last year, filed a balance sheet for 2024 showing assets totalling just $6.47 million, after its 2022 balance sheet indicated holdings of just over $252 million.
• According to the 2019 corporate records in the Luxembourg register, Betancourt López is listed as the sole beneficial owner.
• Ming International,
• Another of the companies mentioned in the OCCRP article and registered at Rue de Rollingergrund had assets worth more than €110 million at the end of 2023, according to a filing with the Luxembourg Business Register in September 2025.
• Gainsboro Developments
• Last filed accounts in 2022 when it had assets of over €22.5 million on its books.
• O’Hara Financial SA went into voluntary liquidation in July 2021.
• O’Hara Administration, based in Panama and run by Betancourt López, is a multidisciplinary investment fund and family office, according to its website.
• O’Hara and Betancourt López were in the news at the end of last year thanks to their investment in the Spanish sunglasses brand Hawkers.

Spanish sunglasses brand Hawkers.

• According to media reports in business specialist magazines, Betancourt López took the helm at Hawkers in November 2016 after he led a €50 million investment round that allowed O’Hara Administration to become the sunglasses maker’s largest shareholder.
• He steered the company through Spain’s latest economic crisis and, through store and geographic expansion, as well as the construction of an in-house manufacturing facility, helped the company post annual revenues exceeding €100 million.
• A 2017 endorsement by football superstar Lionel Messi also helped the brand gain exposure.

Cousins are also on the Swiss list

• Two of Betancourt López’s cousins and former business partners, Francisco Convit and Pedro Trebbau, are also on the Swiss frozen assets list.
• They are named as associates of the former Venezuelan vice minister of electric power under Chávez, Nervis Gerardo Villalobos Cárdenas, who is also on the Swiss frozen assets list alongside his son Nervis Alejandro and daughter Maria Isabel.
• The Swiss authorities also named Betancourt López and Trebbau as founders and Convit as director of the energy company Derwick Associates.
• The company was previously under investigation for being a key entity in a scheme that diverted more than €3.3 billion from Venezuela’s state oil company, PDVSA, through shell companies.
• Convit was also a one-time director of a Dutch foundation, Stichting Administratiekantoor, which was listed in Luxembourg as the owner of Latin American Ventures.
• He was replaced at the Amsterdam-based Stichting in 2018 by Orlando José Alvarado Moreno, who was a Derwick director and also served as head of Gainsboro Developments between 2019 and 2021.

Source

https://www.luxtimes.lu/luxembourg/swiss-freeze-assets-of-maduro-linked-businessman-with-luxembourg-ties/122399015.html