Samark López Bello / El Dia
On Sunday, 12 May 2019, drug and money-laundering investigators joined by US federal agents raided the luxury villa in Cap Cana linked to one of Venezuela’s richest men, 44-year old billionaire Samark López Bello. López Bello wasn’t present at the time.
Samark López Bello was recently indicted by federal prosecutors in New York for allegedly violating sanctions on Venezuela. He is said to have close ties to former Venezuelan Vice President Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah, who is accused by the US government for his ties to the Iranian-sponsored, internationally sanctioned terrorist group Hezbollah and drug traffickers.
López Bello is also thought to be linked to illegal flights from Caracas to Moscow and Istanbul, and suspected of using his planes for illegal activities from Venezuela to the UAE to avoid US sanctions. In addition, it is said that the plane that had landed in Punta Cana on 30 April 2019 was taking Lopez Bello and associates from Russia to Venezuela and then came to the Dominican Republic. Local National Investigations Agency (DNI) director, Sigfrido Pared Perez, had stated that the recent Turkish plane that landed at Punta Cana International Airport was just transporting crew.
The raid at the villa in Cap Cana in the Punta Cana area resulted in the confiscation of two villas estimated to be worth US$30 million and US$18 million, and more than 30 luxury watches, valued between US$50,000 and US$300,000 each, three sport-utility vehicles, more than US$43,000 in cash and other property. Also confiscated was jewelry belonging to his wife in two safety deposit boxes that also contained numerous documents detailing commercial transaction, including transfers of large quantities of cash from Venezuela to Russia.
In the operation, the authorities arrested Armando J. Leiva and Carmen J. Pinto de Leiva, a Venezuelan couple, and María Eugenia Rojas and Karol V. Gutiérrez Nieve, both Dominicans.
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El Dia
Miami Herald
El Dia
Diario Libre
15 May 2019