MIAMI, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A U.S. jury has convicted a Venezuelan businessman of working as an illegal foreign agent in Florida in the so-called "suitcase-gate" case, prosecutors say.
Franklin Duran, who prosecutors said got wealthy by funneling bribes to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's government, was found guilty of illegally coming to the United States to silence a former associate who had been caught trying to deliver a suitcase full of Venezuelan government cash, the Miami Herald reported.
The case has been known as "suitcase-gate" in South America.
Prosecutors said Duran went to Miami to bribe fellow Venezuelan businessman Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson into silence regarding an incident in which Wilson was stopped at the Buenos Aires airport with $800,000 in a suitcase. The money was allegedly meant as a gift from Chavez to Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Another associate, Carlos Kauffmann, pleaded guilty to playing a role in the alleged conspiracy, and testified at Duran's trial that they had performed favors for the Chavez government.
Duran's attorneys say his prosecution is motivated by anti-Chavez politics.
"We're going to keep this fight up and stop this political circus," lawyer Ed Shohat told reporters. "Duran is a pawn."
