Ex-Venezuelan treasurer close to Chávez is target of Florida money-laundering probe

Federal authorities in South Florida are building a massive money laundering case against a former high-ranking Venezuelan official close to late President Hugo Chávez in a probe that also targets other former senior officials and financial figures who collaborated with them. Alejandro Andrade, a former bodyguard to Chávez who rose to the rank of national treasurer between 2007 and 2010, is suspected of laundering millions of dollars stolen from the Venezuelan government to invest in real estate, show horses and other assets in South Florida and elsewhere, according to sources in Miami and former Venezuelan government officials familiar with the investigation. Andrade’s acquisitions in South Florida and other parts of the United States don’t show up in public records because the purchases were made through shell companies that allow him to keep his ownership hidden, sources said. More…