Samark López Bello is a Venezuelan businessman identified as an alleged front man for Tareck El Aissami, who was detained in Venezuela for his alleged role in the corruption scheme known as PdVSA-Cripto. López Bello is also wanted by US judicial authorities over allegations of money laundering linked to drug trafficking.
History
López Bello was linked to the Chavista regime from its early days. Between 2000 and 2008, he worked as director of Planning and Budget for the Mérida state government during the administration of Florencio Porras. His contract was terminated at Porras’ request; Porras later said López Bello had been involved in acts of corruption.
During that period, López Bello struck up a friendship with El Aissami, then-president of the Federation of University Centers at the University of Los Andes.
After leaving the governor’s office — and despite having been sued in 2007 by the Banco de Venezuela over a significant outstanding debt — López Bello moved into the private sector. He became the owner of five companies in Venezuela: Profit Corporation C.A., Alfa One C.A., SMT Tecnología, Grupo Sahect C.A., and Servicios Tecnológicos Industriales C.A. He also secured state contracts through Petróleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) and the Interior and Justice Ministry, which El Aissami headed between 2008 and 2012.
In 2013, López’s name gained wider prominence amid rumors linking him to the purchase of Cadena Capriles, one of Venezuela’s oldest media companies and the country’s newspaper group with the largest circulation. The sale drew criticism over the opacity surrounding the buyers and the subsequent shift in editorial lines that favored the government. López’s role in the acquisition was never confirmed, and the identity of the owners remains unknown.
His rapid rise as a businessman also led him to acquire several companies in the United States, including MF Food Service, LLC; LH Industries Supplies INC; and Sahect Holding LLC.
In Panama, he headed Yakima Trading Corp, a company created in February 2002, where he was appointed president in 2014. Yakima engaged in multiple transactions with the Venezuelan state, including the sale of 5,712 prefabricated housing units to PdVSA Industrial.
US refiner Citgo, a PdVSA subsidiary, also attempted to sign a contract with a company owned by López Bello, according to allegations made by a former human resources director before a Texas court.
An investigation by the investigative outlet Armando.info also linked López to Postar Intertrade Limited, a company that signed contracts in 2016 to import Christmas trees with the Venezuelan Foreign Trade Corporation (Corpovex). The company later agreed to sell food boxes to the government for distribution through the Local Committees for Supply and Production (Comités Locales de Abastecimiento y Producción – CLAP) program.
On February 13, 2017, the US Treasury Department identified López Bello as a front man for El Aissami, whom it accused of narcotrafficking-related crimes ranging from protecting traffickers to facilitating drug shipments for cartels. Two years later, on March 8, 2019, the US government brought new accusations against El Aissami and López Bello, alleging violations of the sanctions imposed by Washington in 2017 after the pair traveled from Russia to Venezuela using private aircraft provided by US-based companies.
On May 12, 2019, the Dominican Republic’s Specialized Anti-Money Laundering Prosecutor’s Office, accompanied by the National Drug Control Directorate (Dirección Nacional de Control de Drogas – DNCD) and US federal agents, raided two villas in a tourist complex in Verón, Punta Cana, identified as properties belonging to López Bello.
Another Armando.info investigation — stemming from the document leak known as the Pandora Papers — linked López Bello to the Venezuelan bank Bancamiga, which has seen dramatic growth in Venezuela’s battered banking sector since individuals tied to the sanctioned businessman joined the bank as shareholders and executives. López Bello denied any such ties.
In 2019, three US contractors who had been kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Revolucionarias Armadas de Colombia – FARC) in 2003 — and were creditors seeking compensation — filed a lawsuit to seize assets confiscated from López Bello. They argued that the businessman had indirect links to the FARC through El Aissami and won the case in 2020. However, the lack of evidence proving ties to the FARC led López Bello to appeal, and in 2022 the order granting his assets to the contractors was overturned.
López Bello’s fortunes shifted in 2023, when the Venezuelan government announced an investigation into El Aissami’s management of PdVSA and the handling of a Venezuelan crypto asset used to evade US sanctions. The probe resulted in a purge of El Aissami’s faction from all branches of power.
On April 9, 2024, El Aissami, López Bello, and other senior officials linked to them were arrested by Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab. Saab accused El Aissami of leading a network that irregularly sold PdVSA crude shipments, with proceeds that never entered state coffers and instead fed a multibillion-dollar money laundering scheme, and accused López Bello of acting as the network’s financial operator. Saab also charged both men with offenses against the government of Nicolás Maduro, bringing charges of treason alongside multiple other crimes.
Criminal Activities
From his first foray into public administration, Samark López Bello was linked to corruption and money laundering allegations.
After his departure from the Mérida state government, then-Governor Florencio Porras accused López Bello of taking bribes to fast-track public infrastructure projects.
Those accusations did not prevent López Bello from moving into the private sector after his removal by the former governor. There, he amassed at least 13 domestic and international companies, through which he secured lucrative — and opaque — contracts with the Venezuelan state.
The clearest evidence of this nexus emerged when the US Treasury Department accused López Bello of being “a key front man for Tareck El Aissami” and of participating in El Aissami’s narcotrafficking network through money laundering.
His role as a financial operator in the PdVSA-Cripto scheme — which, according to multiple reports, siphoned off several billion dollars from the state oil company — ultimately led to his arrest in 2024.
Geography
The corrupt business empire built by López Bello, made up of 13 companies, spans Venezuela, the United States, Panama, the British Virgin Islands, and the United Kingdom. It is also indirectly linked to a company based in Barbados. López Bello additionally owned luxury properties in the Dominican Republic.
Allies and Enemies
According to investigations, López Bello’s principal ally was Tareck El Aissami. Their partnership ensured that López Bello’s businesses — corrupt and rooted in illegality — endured for years and diversified across sectors including construction, food supply, banking, oil, and even the importation of Christmas trees, through companies directly or indirectly tied to López Bello.
His criminal activities were ultimately curtailed first by US justice, which seized his assets and accounts, and later by his arrest in Venezuela.
Prospects
The López Bello case illustrates the measures the Chavista regime is willing to take against the financial circles of political figures who have crossed its red lines, such as Tareck El Aissami — whether due to rampant corruption and the embezzlement of public funds or because of actions deemed to threaten the government of Nicolás Maduro.