A former Venezuelan economy minister, including a nurse for the late President Hugo Chavez, has been convicted in the US of money laundering.

Claudia Diaz, a former Navy sergeant who served as Venezuela’s economy minister from 2011 to 2013 and a nurse for Chavez while he was recovering from cancer, was extradited from Spain to the United States in May 2022.

A Florida jury found Diaz and her husband guilty of money laundering. U.S. prosecutors said Diaz received at least $65 million between 2011 and 2013 in exchange for helping Raul Gorin, also a Venezuelan citizen, obtain dollars at a favorable exchange rate.

Diaz and her husband then laundered money by buying private jets, yachts, mansions and horses in South Florida, the indictment says.

The prosecution based its case largely on the testimony of one of Díaz’s predecessors in the ministry, former presidential security agent Alejandro Andradeo, who used his personal relationship with Chávez to rise through the ranks of the Venezuelan leadership. He was released from prison in 2021 after serving punishment. less than half of the 10 year period. As part of his deal with prosecutors, he handed over more than $260 million in cash and assets, including a Palm Beach mansion and racehorses.

According to Reuters