The De Grazia brothers have been imprisoned for

908 days

Since their arrest by the DGCIM on April 19, 2024.

The method

Innocent people jailed, companies taken

The statement of facts holds that what happened to the De Grazia brothers follows a recurring pattern, and that the arrest was not the consequence of a crime but the instrument of the dispossession.

The seven steps of the pattern

According to the document, the same scheme is applied to owners and employees of successful companies, and it has been documented by national and international bodies:

  1. Arrest and deprivation of libertyWith charges presented as an «anti-corruption» action. Here: April 19, 2024.
  2. Enforced disappearanceIncommunicado detention and isolation at intelligence agency facilities for long periods. Here: four months at the «Máxima II».
  3. Physical and psychological tortureSleep and sensory deprivation, extreme cold, threats. Annex 2
  4. Theft of assetsWhile the owners are held incommunicado, their property is seized and their companies are transferred.
  5. Trial on false chargesWithout real procedural guarantees.
  6. Ban on lawyers of their choiceA public defender is imposed against the detainee's will.
  7. Extortion of relativesAmong other pressures on the detainees' circle.

The two forms of looting

The statement of facts distinguishes two methods, both carried out while the brothers were held incommunicado:

  • Without formalities. From day one, the DGCIM takes assets «as if it were spoils of war», with no court order or record. See the seized assets.
  • With a legal appearance. José Simón Elarba designed «apparently lawful» formulas (sales contracts, share transfers and shareholders' meetings) based on the full inventory of assets that, according to the document, he obtained from the DGCIM. See Bancamiga, Compass Bank and the other companies.

Who benefited

The document states that the assets did not go to the Republic. The recipients were mainly Elarba and his close circle, led by his stepson Manuel Flores Melo, and the DGCIM itself.

The companies were transferred to six recipients: Elarba directly, Velutini, the company Corporación de Tecnología Integral, C.A. (99% owned by Manuel Flores Melo), Flores Melo himself, and two Elarba employees, René Augusto Hernández Giraldo and Aurora Delgado Barrios.

The document's conclusion

According to the statement of facts, the acts by which the brothers were dispossessed are absolutely void, as is the criminal proceeding brought against them.

What follows summarizes the «Statement of Facts» submitted by the affected parties. Each claim refers to the annex that supports it where one exists.