The private bank harbored at least $21 million for a Venezuelan businessman charged with money laundering in connection with Venezuela's state oil company, finews.asia has learned.

Naman Wakil tapped more than $21 million from a Swiss bank account at Reyl’s unit for U.S. clients to pay a $50 million bond last week, according to a court filing seen by finews.asia on Friday. Wakil, who was arrested and charged with bribery and money laundering two weeks ago in Miami, was released after putting up the bond sum.

Prosecutors accuse Wakil, a 59-year-old Syrian who lives in the U.S., of bribing officials including at PDVSA, the state-run oil firm, in exchange for inflated food contracts, according to charges levied by south Florida prosecutors. A huge chunk of Wakil's bond money was wired from Reyl, according to the bond receipt seen by finews.com.

Plane, Yacht, Condos Bought

Specifically, the funds came from Reyl Overseas in Zurich, the Swiss wealth manager’s Securities and Exchange Commission-registered entity that caters to U.S. clients. Last year, the unit overseen by ex-UBS banker René Marty posted a dramatic surge in assets.

A spokeswoman for Reyl said the unit «performs its activities in compliance with regulations applicable to it,» without elaborating further.

Wakil is accused of laundering proceeds from this scheme by purchasing a $3.5 million plane, a yacht worth $1.5 million, and ten south Florida apartment units. He is the latest link between scandal-engulfed PDVSA, Venezuela's state-owned oil company, and Switzerland.

Hefty Bail Sum

Wakil's $21 million transfer from Switzerland to prosecutors in Florida’s Southern District – the same one which indicted former Swiss banker Matthias Krull in 2018 – is hefty, even by the standards of Venezuelan graft. An estimated $1.5 trillion disappeared from PDVSA’s coffers between 2002 and 2014, according to «infodio», a website devoted to chronicling the graft. 

Under current president Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela is struggling with food and medicine shortages, unemployment, and hyperinflation so dramatic that the central bank this month said it will lop off six zeros off the bolivar. More than 5 million Venezuelans have emigrated, and some 7 million people still in the country are in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the United Nations.

Wider Swiss Involvement

Several Swiss banks including Julius Baer and Credit Suisse drew censure from Switzerland’s financial regulator for their involvement in Venezuelan graft. For a time, «bolichico» Francisco Convit, who is also accused of money laundering, was a minority shareholder in Banco Credinvest, a tiny Lugano-based private bank, as finews.com reported.

Reyl is one of several dozen Swiss banks to return to the U.S. market, after a massive tax crackdown, via units registered with the SEC. Now majority-owned by Italy's Intesa Sanpaolo, Reyl set up its US. unit in Zurich in 2011.