A 52-year-old Florida man was sentenced to 55 months in prison for providing private charter flights to senior members of the Venezuelan government, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Victor Mones Coro, the founder of American Charter Services (ACS), had pleaded guilty in November 2019 for violating sanctions imposed by the U.S., after he created a scheme to provide members of former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s regime with flights, a DOJ statement read.
Mones Coro provided flights to former Venezuelan Vice President Tareck Zaidan El Aissami, and Samark Jose Lopez Bello, Maduro’s “frontman,” according to the DOJ statement.
A Florida man was sentenced today to 55 months in prison and $250,000 in fines for his connection with a scheme to provide private charter flights to two prominent members of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s inner circle.https://t.co/o92aC8i0Ll
— Jerry Dunleavy (@JerryDunleavy) March 17, 2021
As part of Mones Coro’s scheme, he used private charter planes ACS, falsified information, used code names and received payment in cash to evade being caught, according to the DOJ. (RELATED: DOJ, DHS Release 2020 Election Interference Investigation Findings Deeming Allegations ‘Not Credible’)
“Victor Mones Coro led a concerted, sustained multi-year scheme to provide millions of dollars’ worth of illicit flight services to Venezuelan leaders in direct contravention of our country’s sanctions regime and foreign policy,” explained Audrey Strauss, a U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York.
“Today’s sentence serves as a reminder that, together with our law enforcement partners, we will aggressively prosecute sanctions violators to protect our national security,” Strauss added.
In March 2019, El Aissami and Bello were charged with violating sanctions and the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement.
Along with serving time in prison, Mones Coro must also pay $250,000 in fines. He will also be subject to supervision upon release.