Ex Venezuela official pleads guilty in money laundering case

MIAMI – The former finance chief of Venezuela’s state oil company has pleaded guilty to a role in helping to launder $1.2 billion stolen from the company in a high-profile case implicating President Nicolas Maduro’s stepsons.

Abraham Ortega’s plea in a Miami federal courtroom Wednesday comes two days after a former Swiss banker also involved in the case was sentenced to 10 years of prison.

Both men are part of the biggest money-laundering case ever lodged against Venezuelan officials and their associates.

Two American sources familiar with the probe have said that the Swiss banker told prosecutors that the money laundering plot included Maduro’s three stepsons.

None of them have been charged and they are not named in the complaint.