The UDEF (Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit) of the National Police in Spain has arrested Venezuelan businessman José Roberto Rincón Bravo and another individual as part of a money laundering investigation led by Judge Joaquín Gadea of the National Court. The properties involved in the investigation include a luxury home in La Finca urbanization in Pozuelo de Alcorcón and an apartment in the upscale Salamanca neighborhood in Madrid. Rincón Bravo, son of the magnate Roberto Rincón Fernández, admitted nearly a decade ago in the US to paying millions in bribes to former high-ranking officials of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, PDVSA, in order to secure contracts for his company. The operation, coordinated with authorities in the US and Portugal, is looking into money laundering, international bribery, and organized crime.
This is not the first time Rincón Bravo has been under investigation in Spain, where he has been living for 10 years. In June 2018, he was arrested along with his mother in a case related to money laundering involving funds from PDVSA. At that time, several of his properties were seized, including the house in Pozuelo de Alarcón that is being searched in this current operation. Expensive cars, jewelry, luxury watches, and exclusive wine bottles were also confiscated. Investigators suspected that these items were acquired with funds allegedly stolen from the Venezuelan oil company by his father. However, Rincón Bravo has maintained his innocence, denying that his assets in Spain were purchased with his father’s ill-gotten gains. The investigation is ongoing.
Unlike other Venezuelan citizens in Spain who have been implicated in corruption cases linked to PDVSA, Rincón Bravo has never held a public position in the Chavista regime. He has always been involved in business, following in his father’s footsteps. Since arriving in Spain, he has invested significant amounts of money, mostly through Tradequip España Inspección y Logística SL, a company based in Coslada, Madrid, focused on wholesale trade of chemical products and industrial machinery. The company, whose main shareholder is the family’s parent company, reported assets of over 60 million euros and losses of 22,000 euros in 2018, with no employees. Rincón Bravo serves as the sole administrator of this company and five others in Spain, including one specializing in gourmet food importation and another in film production.
Through another company, Global Manghas SL, engaged in agricultural and livestock production, Rincón Bravo purchased a mansion known as La Encomienda de La Losilla in Villarejo de Salvanés, Madrid in 2014. This estate, with over 1,500 square meters built and more than 310 hectares of land, is valued at 26.5 million euros. The latest available financial statements from 2017 show losses of just over 2 million for the company. The investigation is shedding light on Rincón Bravo’s business activities and acquisitions in Spain, raising questions about the origins of his wealth and assets. The case remains open, with the authorities working in collaboration with their counterparts in the US and Portugal to uncover the full extent of the alleged money laundering, bribery, and criminal organization activities.
