Venezuela 1st lady's nephew takes drug case to Supreme Court

A nephew of Venezuela’s first lady appealed to U.S. Supreme Court an 18-year sentence for conspiring to smuggle 800 kilograms of cocaine into U.S.

Francisco Flores and his cousin, Efrain Campo, were found guilty in 2016 in a highly charged case that cast a hard look at U.S. accusations of drug trafficking at highest levels of President Nicolás Maduro’s socialist administration. In March, prosecutors charged Maduro himself with leading an alleged “narco-terrorist” conspiracy that flooded U.S. with 250 metric tons of cocaine a year.

In a petition posted Tuesday on Supreme Court's docket, attorneys for Flores argued that jury was misled when y were told by a Manhattan federal judge that men should've kwn cocaine was bound for U.S. — a requirement for conviction under U.S. law.

According to petition, two men at moment in wiretapped recordings can be heard even inquiring about final destination of Honduras-bound shipment y were negotiating with informants working under supervision of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. When informants inserted on 13 recorded instances general references to drug trafficking in U.S., men remained silent or reacted with vague and inaudible responses, according to petition.

“ only evidence cited with respect to Flores’s supposed deliberate avoidance of kwledge was that he and Campo remained effectively silent—i.e. did t seek confirmation or clarification—when DEA informants dropped ir various oblique hints,” according to petition, which was prepared by New York-based attorneys with firm Sidley.

Campo and Flores were arrested in Haiti in a DEA sting in 2015 and immediately removed to New York to face trial. y were lured to Caribbean island with promise of an $11 million advance from a wheelchair-bound trafficker y met in Honduras named “El Sentado” — seated one — who unbekwnst to m was a DEA informant.

A meeting in Caracas followed, in which a sample of narcotic was produced. But drugs were seized when y were arrested at a restaurant near airport in Port-au-Prince shortly after arriving in a private jet from Caracas.

Lawyers for Campo and Flores argued at ir two-week trial that drugs traded hands and men never intended to deliver any. Prosecutors' star witness, Jose Santos-Pena, was a DEA informant who was later found to have lied to his handlers.

It's t clear who is paying Flores' legal fee. Michael Levy, a lawyer at Austin, declined to comment. But in lower court trial, his legal bill was flipped by Wilmer Ruperti, a Venezuelan shipping magnate close to Maduro's government.

Flores, who Maduro calls “First Combatant,” is one of most-powerful members of Venezuela’s revolutionary government and a constant presence alongside her husband whenever he appears in public. two have made almost mention of ir loved ones' conviction in U.S.

(Im Credit: AP)