© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The logo of PDVSA’s U.S. unit Citgo Petroleum is seen at a gas station in Stowell, Texas, U.S., June 12, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Bachman/File Photo
By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – A former chief executive officer at U.S. oil refiner Citgo Petroleum helped alleged Venezuelan drug trafficker Carlos Orense move money in the mid-2000s, a witness at Orense’s trial in New York testified this week.
Antonio Arvelaiz, who has said on the witness stand he helped Orense traffic cocaine from 2003-2010, said on Monday he was present for conversations in 2003 or 2004 in which Orense and the former CEO, Luis Marin, discussed using Citgo contracts to get drug proceeds out of the United States.
The testimony came at Orense’s trial on charges of shipping tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine to the United States. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan say Orense bribed senior Venezuelan military officials to ensure safe passage for his drugs. Orense has pleaded not guilty.
Asked on Tuesday to respond to Arvelaiz’s testimony that he helped Orense move drug money, Marin – who served as Citgo’s CEO from 2003 to 2005 – told Reuters he did not know Arvelaiz.
He said he…
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