Man convicted of being foreign agent

MIAMI, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Businessman Franklin Duran was convicted in Miami Monday on charges he illegally acted as an agent of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in the United States.

The 41-year-old Venezuelan, who was living in Florida, was indicted last December along with a handful of co-defendants.

Duran and the others were accused of coming to the United States to hush up an alleged attempt by Chavez to funnel nearly $800,000 to Argentina President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Duran had been stopped in Argentina with the money allegedly earmarked for the winner of Argentina's presidential election.

U.S. prosecutors alleged Venezuelan government officials, including intelligence agents and officials from the office of the South American nation's vice president directed the defendants' activities in South Florida.

"This is not the first time that unregistered foreign agents have sought to do their nations' bidding in our backyard, in disregard of our laws and our sovereignty," said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta. "Through this prosecution, as in the past, we voice our continued commitment to safeguarding our borders and our national integrity from intrusion by unregistered foreign agents who seek to maintain their presence hidden."

Duran is to be sentenced Jan. 12. He faces a statutory maximum penalty of five years for acting as an unregistered foreign agent.