Venezuelan billionaire the US probed for money laundering now has a Pentagon oil deal Official said most of Betancourt's legal challenges are old - and that he is the best partner. World 20 min ago

Before the Miami-based investigation into Betancourt was put on hold, six sources said he had been identified as an unnamed unindicted co-conspirator in an alleged ⁠plan by former Venezuelan energy officials and their associates to launder more than $1 billion misappropriated from the state-owned PDVSA oil company.federal prosecutors in Florida paused their investigation into Betancourt in connection with an alleged plan that involved embezzling over $1 billion from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company and laundering it through real estate in Miami and bank accounts in Malta and Switzerland.

In January, Betancourt helped broker a key oil trading agreement that has led to the export of more than 135 million barrels of crude and fuel to the United States, Europe, India and the Caribbean so far, according to vessel monitoring data and six people with knowledge of the negotiations.