MIAMI — A wealthy Venezuelan enlisted by President Hugo Chavez’s government to quell a political scandal involving a suitcase stuffed with cash was sentenced Monday to four years in U.S. prison.
Franklin Duran, 41, was convicted in November of conspiracy and failure to register with the U.S. as a Venezuelan agent.
Prosecutors said he led a group of South American men who came to Miami in 2007 in an attempt to cover up the source and destination of nearly $800,000 that arrived on a private plane from Venezuela at an airport in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard noted before imposing the sentence that Duran did not commit espionage against the U.S. or threaten its national interests. But she said acting as an illegal foreign agent is still a serious crime.
