Warren Warns of Trump’s Control of Venezuelan Oil Money

Experts have told CNN that Qatari banks served a similar intermediary role during the Biden administration, when it allowed some funds from oil sales to flow to Iran amid a loosening of sanctions on that country, Kit Maher and Stefano Pozzebon reported for CNN.

The fact that the funds are being held in Qatar not only places them further outside U.S. legal challenges to that order, it also allows for less U.S. transparency in the movement of cash. (Photo: Energy Analysis Institute)

Qatari banks holding the funds have been instructed to auction the money to Venezuelan banks, giving priority to food, medicine, and small businesses, according to Alejandro Grisanti, founding director of Ecoanalitica, a Latin American consulting firm that operates in Venezuela, among other countries.

That money will be collected by the Central Bank of Venezuela and allocated according to the requirements set by the U.S., Grisanti said.

“There is no basis in law for a president to set up an offshore account that he controls so that he can sell assets seized by the American military,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, in a comment to Semafor.

“That is precisely a move that a corrupt politician would be attracted to.”

But Trump’s executive order should have prevented the problem of creditors blocking the flow of necessary funds to Venezuela, the expert said.

The fact that the funds are being held in Qatar not only places them further outside U.S. legal challenges to that order, it also allows for less U.S. transparency in the movement of cash.

“Unless there’s some public plan that is going to come out and say, ‘Here’s the government structure for this pot of money, who’s going to have control, here are the various anti-corruption and anti-money-laundering controls that are going to be put in place,’ this is being set up kind of like a slush fund,” said the expert, who asked for anonymity.

“It’s very troubling.”