Former Venezuelan National Guard officer gets prison for money laundering

May 23 (UPI) -- A former Venezuelan National Guard officer who now lives in Florida was sentenced Thursday to a year and a day in prison for participating in money laundering that included bribing foreign officials and defrauding financial institutions.

The Justice Department said Nepmar Jesus Escalona Enriquez, 47, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., bribed foreign officials and defrauded financial institutions in an illegal scheme to finance purported food imports to Venezuela.

"Escalona and his co-conspirators carried out the scheme, in part, by knowingly submitting fraudulent applications to the Venezuelan currency regulation authority, also known as CADIVI, to deceive Banesco Bank, the Central Bank of Venezuela, and Venezuelan customs authorities into releasing U.S. dollars to Escalona and his co-conspirators outside of Venezuela," the Justice Department said in a statement.

The crimes resulted in the transfer of nearly $1.7 million into an account controlled by participants in the conspiracy, according to the Justice Department.

Escalona pleaded guilty March 4 to one count of money laundering conspiracy and admitted bribing a Venezuelan official in an effort to prevent getting caught.

He also admitted to instructing a co-conspirator to wire transfer fraud proceeds. Five of the illegal wires totaled $420,847.

During the money laundering, Escalona defrauded Banesco Bank, the Central Bank of Venezuela and Venezuelan customs authorities by claiming he was financing food importation.