Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

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Florida felon caught trying to flee to Ecuador with money laundering to-do list

Claiming he was granted asylum in Ecuador, Florida man was caught at the airport with a money laundering to-do list while awaiting sentencing,

[Nikesh] Patel, of Windermere, Fla., pleaded guilty in federal court in Chicago in 2016 to five counts of wire fraud, admitting in a plea agreement with prosecutors that he sold tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent loans to an investment firm in Wisconsin and blew the cash on a lavish lifestyle and to buy hotels, court records show.

He had a money laundering to-do list when he was stopped at the Kissimmee airport while trying to flee to Ecuador,

he was carrying a document that laid out an elaborate escape plan, from applying for political asylum in Ecuador to marshaling ill-gotten assets to buy $30 million in diamonds from a merchant in Dubai.

The document, which was titled “What we are doing,” appeared to be written to an unidentified person aiding him in the escape attempt, according to the prosecution filing made last week.

“I have got my final asylum approval and need to move things along and cannot just sit around here and wait any longer,” Patel wrote. “I managed to get a few more dollars (don’t ask how) so as of today, I have a total of $35MM in ‘dirty’ money.”

The document went on to detail how Patel was finalizing the purchase of a 104-carat “fancy dark” diamond — “one of the rarest diamonds in the world and very sought after” — through a merchant he trusted in Dubai, according to the court records.

Patel’s wife and children had already fled to Ecuador after his arrest. He had obtained a new passport from a friend in India late last year and applied for political asylum in Ecuador. He used to own a hotel in Peoria.

If you’re going to be crook, Fleeing to South America? Leave the incriminating to-do list at home

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Ecuador: Assange is a problem

One for the “no sh*t, Sherlock,” file,
Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno has described Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as an “inherited problem” in a television interview.

President Moreno said Mr Assange had created “more than a nuisance” for his government.

He has in the past warned the Wikileaks founder not to interfere in Ecuadorean politics or “that of nations that are our friends”.

His warning followed Mr Assange’s public support for the independence campaign in Catalonia.

Pamela Anderson thinks Assange is a genius.

Assange was granted Ecuadorean citizenship last month.

He’s been in the London embassy since June of 2012. Let’s hope he doesn’t break his hip.

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Ecuador: When will Assange have to leave?

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been staying at the Ecuadorian Embassy (a small apartment) in London for nearly since 2012. He has not left the premises due to outstanding warrants for his arrest.

He tweeted this last year, criticizing president Lenín Moreno,

Moreno did not like it and wants him out, but does not want the visuals of Assange being dragged away by police. Ecuador requested that the UK grant Assange diplomatic status, to which the UK said “no” (link in Spanish). Here’s a screenshot of the letter,

James Ball of The Guardian summarizes Assange’s situation,
The only barrier to Julian Assange leaving Ecuador’s embassy is pride

The WikiLeaks founder is unlikely to face prosecution in the US, charges in Sweden have been dropped – and for the embassy, he’s lost his value as an icon

Ball, by the way, worked with WikiLeaks for a few months in 2010 and 2011.

———————————————–

Headlines:
WikiLeaks: Ecuador wants Julian Assange out of its embassy. Deporting him to Australia is one option

Ecuador is hoping it can break a long impasse that has seen WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange holed up in its London embassy for five years.

It is seeking a third-party mediator to broker a deal with the United Kingdom in an effort to find a way for Mr Assange, who is an Australian citizen, to leave their building.

Ecuador has been “considering and exploring the possibility of a mediation” to resolve the issue.

Why is Julian Assange in Ecuador’s UK embassy?
Mr Assange was accused of raping two women in Sweden in 2010 and was subsequently arrested in London.

He was released on bail whilst fighting extradition to Sweden, but after losing his appeal in 2012 he sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Mr Assange has been in the small embassy in Knightsbridge ever since.

Sweden has subsequently dropped all charges against Mr Assange, but he continues to fear extradition to the United States.

JULIAN ASSANGE MAY BE FORCED TO LEAVE ECUADOR EMBASSY AFTER UPSETTING PRESIDENT

Ecuador’s newly elected president Lenin Moreno issued several warnings to the Australian asking him to refrain from commenting on politics relating to Ecuador’s allies.

The UK has turned down a request from Ecuador to grant diplomatic status to Julian Assange – as a means of breaking a longstanding deadlock over his fate.

UK police say he will be arrested if he leaves the embassy in Knightsbridge for failing to surrender to the court in 2012.

An FCO spokesman said: “The government of Ecuador recently requested diplomatic status for Mr Assange here in the UK. The UK did not grant that request, nor are we in talks with Ecuador on this matter.

“Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice.”

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

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Ecuador: Moreno no longer head of his party

Ecuador’s President Lenín Moreno has been removed from his post of leader of the governing Alianza País party by the party’s national leadership committee.

Mr Moreno’s position as the country’s president is not affected but the committee said that Alianza País would now be led by the former foreign minister, Ricardo Patiño.

Supporters of Mr Moreno said they did not accept the committee’s decision.

It has to do with Rafael Correa,

Moreno, who is seeking presidential term limits via a referendum to revise the constitution, has sidelined another top Correa ally from the vice presidency, and is overseeing a corruption probe that has ensnared former high-level officials.

Allegedly, Correa expected to run for president again after Lenín served one term.

But Lenín has other plans, including a proposed referendum,

Such a referendum would, however, defy some of the rules laid down by the previous government headed by Rafael Correa, such as unlimited reelections, capital gains legislation and the restructuring of the Citizen Participation Council, all controversial matters that further divide Ecuadorian society.

Not exactly what Correa had in mind when he left for Belgium.

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Ecuador: Odebrecht stoolie turns in tapes of meetings with officials

José Santos, Odebrecht’s top officer in Ecuador, has turned in to investigators videos of his meetings with government officials, according to Veja.

In exchange, he received the shortest sentence of all seventy-seven of the company’s informants.

Seventy-seven singing: Big enough for a symphonic chorus.

Santos’s tapes must be music to the ears of the investigators of the bribes-for-government contracts case(s) against Odebrecht.

Karina Martín reports,

So far, investigations into the Odebrecht case in Ecuador have led to the imprisonment of eight people, among them an uncle of re-elected Vice President Jorge Glas and the former Minister of Electricity Alecksey Mosquera.

General Comptroller Carlos Polit, who is currently outside the country, has been involved, but due to his position, he reportedly enjoys judicial privilege.

Ecuador’s lead prosecutor Carlos Baca alleges that “60 percent of the corruption plot arrived and went through Panamanian ports.”

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

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BREAKING: SCOTUS declines to hear Donziger appeal on Chevron case

The Supreme Court of the United States has declined to hear an appeal of the 2014 decision.

You can see it in today’s list under CERTIORARI DENIED, listed as docket #16-1178 DONZIGER, STEVEN, ET AL. V. CHEVRON CORPORATION..

As you may recall, in 2014 Judge Kaplan found that the  $9.5B Environmental Judgment Against Chevron ‘Obtained by Corrupt Means’

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan found that New York lawyer Steven Donziger and his litigation team engaged in coercion, bribery, money laundering and other criminal conduct in pursuit of the 2011 verdict.

Timeline from the WSJ:

Evolution of a Case

  • 1964: Texaco Petroleum Co. begins drilling for oil in Ecuador as part of a consortium
  • 1990: State-owned PetroEcuador takes over the consortium’s oil operations
  • 1992: Texaco ends operations in Ecuador
  • 1993: Ecuadorean residents sue Texaco in U.S. federal court over oil pollution
  • 1995: Texaco signs agreement with Ecuadorean government to clean up pollution
  • 1998: Texaco completes the cleanup
  • 2001: Chevron Corp. acquires Texaco
  • 2003: Ecuadorean residents sue Chevron in Ecuador court
  • 2011: Chevron sues Ecuadorean plaintiffs’ lawyer Steven Donziger in U.S. court
  • 2011: Ecuadorean court awards the plaintiffs about $18 billion in damages
  • 2013: National Court of Justice in Ecuador affirms verdict but reduces damages to $9.5 billion
  • March 2014: Chevron wins U.S. court case against Mr. Donziger.

You can read Judge Kaplan’s entire decision (500 pages) here.

Recommended:
Paul Barrett’s book, Law of the Jungle: The $19 Billion Legal Battle Over Oil in the Rain Forest and the Lawyer Who’d Stop at Nothing to Win

Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.

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The Peru-Ecuador border wall

You probably didn’t know about this wall:
Peru has demanded that Ecuador stop construction work on a wall that its neighbor is building on the border between the two countries

The border has long been a source of tensions between the two Andean countries. Decades of tension descended into open military confrontation in 1995 which lasted three years before a peace agreement was signed.

The Peruvian government claims that the construction of the wall violates the terms of the agreement, in which the two countries agreed to leave a space of 10 meters on either side of the canal free from any building construction.

Ecuador has put aside $4.4 million for the four-meter-tall border wall construction, which is expected to be concluded in September. Local Ecuadorian official Manuel Zumba told AFP the barrier complies to all agreements and is supposed to fight contraband and won’t hinder movement of people as the wall construction is part of a project to regenerate the area, reviving trade and tourism.

Add some solar panels, and you got the art of the deal!

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