At the center of the high-profile investigation involving Plus Ultra Airlines are not only the company’s executives but also an extensive network of financial intermediaries operating between Venezuela, France, Switzerland, and Spain. Last year, law enforcement agencies from these countries handed over documents to Spanish prosecutors mentioning former Swiss banker Luis Felipe Baca Arbulu and Venezuelan broker Danilo Alfonso Díazgranados. In Spain, police have already searched properties linked to these individuals, and prosecutors have launched a confidential investigation on suspicion of creating a criminal organization involved in laundering funds coming from Venezuela. Investigators believe that part of the 53 million euros allocated to bail out the airline in 2021 may have been used in these operations.
Baca Arbulu’s brother, Enrique, has also come under investigation. He owned several companies in Madrid specializing in financial consulting, investments, and real estate brokerage. Among them was Atitlan Capital, which was dissolved this summer as the investigation gained momentum. Despite limited public information, both brothers have repeatedly been cited in the media as experts in technology and energy.
Schemes and routes
After receiving requests from France and the Geneva Prosecutor’s Office, Spanish police carried out a series of searches in Madrid, Tenerife, and Mallorca. During these operations, documents and electronic equipment belonging to Baca Arbulú and Diasgranado were seized. Investigators believe that the suspects laundered money—allegedly obtained through theft and fraudulent schemes involving gold and social benefits in Venezuela—by purchasing real estate and selling luxury goods, including expensive watches. According to prosecutors, commercial entities were used to channel funds from abroad, which were then legitimized through property deals and loans issued to Plus Ultra.
Diasgranado, who is now 61, has in recent years split his time between New York and the upscale La Romana district in the Dominican Republic. The investigation found that he was one of the key financial operators for the Venezuelan regime during Hugo Chávez’s presidency. A leak from Swiss bank CBH indicates that Diasgranado managed €1.5 billion that arrived from Venezuela to be invested in British bonds.
International network
The Spanish prosecutor’s office believes that Baca Arbulu and Diasgranada were part of an international criminal group operating in France, Switzerland, and Spain. The list of suspects also includes a Spanish lawyer, citizens of Peru and Venezuela, as well as Dutch national Simón Leendert Verhoeven. Verhoeven acted as a guarantor for three venture funds that provided Plus Ultra with loans totaling around 1.3 million euros. Two of these loans were arranged in the fall of 2020 through companies registered in England and Switzerland, while the third was issued in January 2021 through a Gibraltar-based firm.
Investigators believe that the airline’s management may have used state aid, received on March 9, 2021, to transfer funds abroad almost immediately after the money was credited. The money transfers and laundering operations were carefully concealed through complex financial schemes and networks of companies.
Key Figures
In Spain, the investigation is ongoing under conditions of absolute secrecy. It is known that the main defendants include the president of Plus Ultra, Julio Martínez Sola, and CEO Roberto Roselli. The case also involves entrepreneur Julio Martínez Martínez, who owns a network of companies legally registered in an industrial area of Alicante, and a Spanish lawyer who, according to investigators, assisted with real estate transactions. All four were detained by police and soon released under travel restrictions and other precautionary measures.
The investigation in France is also ongoing behind closed doors. Investigators have not yet disclosed the details of the financial schemes or named all those involved. However, it is already clear that the Plus Ultra case extends far beyond a single airline and affects the interests of several countries and dozens of individuals connected to financial transactions involving millions of euros.
