Controversy swirls around Trump’s Venezuela business partner

The Trump administration’s Venezuela oil deal puts the federal government in business with a controversial figure from the South American nation.

Recent reporting links North American Blue Energy Partners’s Alejandro Betancourt to multiple investigations. But administration officials have defended their partnership, saying that Betancourt is a proven operator in Venezuela’s energy sector.

Late last month, the Trump administration said it had reached a deal to develop the country’s oil fields, estimated to contain as much as 65 billion barrels of oil, with what was then an unnamed business partner.

Last week, it unveiled additional details, including that the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital is taking a 35 percent stake in company North American Blue Energy Partners.

Several news outlets have reported that Betancourt is the company’s leader. The Washington Post recently reported that U.S. officials intervened in a criminal probe, pushing to avoid criminal charges and end travel restrictions for Betancourt.

The Post also linked him to several investigations in Switzerland, Spain and the U.S. into alleged money laundering, but noted he has not been charged. 

Sources told The Miami Herald in 2021, meanwhile, that Betancourt was one of the unnamed alleged conspirators in a $1.2 billion embezzlement case. Attorney Jon Sale told the newspaper, “My client denies any wrongdoing.”

Some critics of the administration’s........

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