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US government sells Palm Beach home of convicted Venezuelan money launderer
Alejandro Andrade was sentenced to a decade in prison
UPDATED, June 14, 12:48 p.m.: The federal government sold a high-end Palm Beach home that belonged to former Venezuelan treasurer and convicted money launderer Alejandro Andrade for $11 million.
Property records show U.S. Customs and Border Protection sold the six-bedroom, 6,416-square-foot home at 1290 North Ocean Boulevard to Matthew and Astrid Womble of EverWatch, a family office in the Northeast.
The Palm Beach Daily News first reported the sale.
The government put the property on the market with Cristina Condon, Todd Peter and Frances Peter of Sotheby’s International Realty in February for $14.45 million. Among its features are an open floor plan, a summer kitchen, pool and water features, a cabana, 126 feet of ocean frontage, and a gated entrance with a two-car garage, according to the listing.
Through an LLC, Andrade paid $8 million for the property in 2013.
Andrade was sentenced to a decade in prison for his role in a money laundering scheme involving South Florida real estate. Andrade, the former national treasurer of Venezuela under the Hugo Chavez regime, admitted in a guilty plea that he received over $1 billion worth of bribes from his co-conspirator, Venezuelan TV mogul Raul Gorrín, and other co-conspirators in exchange for allowing them to tap into Venezuela’s special fixed currency exchange rate, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Andrade received cash, as well as private jets, yachts, cars, homes, champion horses and high-end watches from his co-conspirators. As part of his guilty plea, he agreed to forfeit his assets, which included 17 champion show horses and several real estate properties in Palm Beach County, including a house in Delray Beach and three homes in Wellington.
He pleaded guilty in December 2017 to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
U.S. authorities also seized 24 of Gorrín’s properties, including two waterfront homes in Coral Gables, a condo at Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach, and apartments on Manhattan’s East Side.
In May, the Wall Street Journal reported that Gorrín played a major role in a failed attempt to push out Venezuela’s current president, Nicolás Maduro. Maduro is a suspect in a separate $1.2 billion money laundering ring involving former executives of PDVSA, the national oil company in Venezuela.