PDVSA Pension Ponzi: US sues 5 people for $29 mln

The US-appointed receiver seeking to recover cash for victims of a Connecticut Ponzi scheme sued Francisco Lopez, Carolina Lopez Pelaez, Carlos M.B. Araya, Christopher Luth and Victor Chong for $29 million, alleging that they received ill-gotten gains.

Here is the filing.

The receiver is trying to recover as much as $300 million that it says was lost by admitted crook Francisco Illarramendi. The receiver’s job is to get back money for the victims, including the pension fund of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA. Who are these allegations against?

Lopez … was a managing member and one-third owner of HVP Partners which he founded in 2004, with Luth and Illarramendi. Prior to forming HVP Partners, Lopez worked at Credit Suisse First Boston for almost twenty years, serving in various capacities including: head of Investment Banking for Latin America; head of the Andean/Central America/Caribbean region; head of Merger and Acquisition Advisory Business and the Financial Institutions Practice in Latin America; member of the Chairman’s Board and member of the Executive Board of the Investment Banking Division of Credit Suisse First Boston… Lopez held licenses as a General Securities Representative and General Securities Principal… Lopez … invoked his Fifth Amendment rights not to incriminate himself.

Luth … was a managing member and one-third owner of HVP Partners… Luth was a Director in the Global Financial Markets Group of ABN Amro, Vice-President and head of the emerging markets syndicate at Deutsche Bank Securities, head of an emerging market syndicate at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London, and was employed at Credit Suisse First Boston. Luth has passed General Securities Representative and Uniform Securities Agent State Law examinations. … invoked his Fifth Amendment rights not to incriminate himself.

Chong … began serving as Chief Compliance Officer of HVP Partners in 2006, and Chief Financial Officer in 2007… was employed by Violy, Byorum & Partners Holdings, an independent investment bank that serves clients throughout Latin America. Chong also worked with Illarramendi at PDV-USA, the U.S. affiliate of Petroleos de Venezuela S.A… invoked his Fifth Amendment rights not to incriminate himself.

Peláez is Lopez’s sister…

Araya is Peláez’s husband…