Alejandro Vinelli and his family had investments with Biscayne Capital, whose partners are investigated in the United States

The relationship of Alejandro Vinelli Ayala and his family with the company Biscayne Capital was extensive. A civil proceeding in the United States reveals that several members invested in Biscayne Capital with the help of Ecuadorian lawyer Frank Chatburn, who has already been sentenced in that country for money laundering related to millionaire bribes in Petroecuador and Seguros Sucre. In another criminal trial, the owners of that firm are accused of fraud and money laundering.

Alejandro Vinelli is a fugitive from Ecuadorian justice, as he faces a trial for possible embezzlement together with the former mayor of the capital Jorge Yunda and twelve other defendants. Vinelli sold COVID-19 tests to the Municipality of Quito that, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, had low sensitivity and overpriced.

Vinelli received advice from Biscayne Capital to form the company Windeebay Advisors Limited in the British Virgin Islands, in 2016, according to the Pandora Papers, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) leak. The procedures to establish this company were made while Vinelli processed the concession of three mining areas in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

That was not his only relationship with Biscayne Capital. According to documents from a civil case in Florida, some 140 people sought redress for investments they had made with Biscayne Capital, which were allegedly backed by other better-known investment funds. They assured that they were deceived by Frank Chatburn Ripalda.

In this process, Alejandro Vinelli’s brother and father appear as Biscayne Capital investors. The first, Sebastián, appears as a representative of the company Kingvi Group SA, registered on the island of Nevis.

The second, Juan Vinelli Aguirre, appears as an investor in a personal capacity and as a representative of Magson Portfolio Corp., based in Panama, and Megarmi SA based in the British Virgin Islands. Both companies are the ones that appeared in the Panama Papers.

Juan Vinelli Aguirre was already the owner of Magson Portfolio when he was deputy manager of General Services at the CFN, a position he held between June 2007 and August 2009. However, he omitted that offshore in two sworn statements of assets that he delivered to the Comptroller General of the State.

When the Panama Papers were published, Vinelli Aguirre’s lawyer, Jean Paul Egred, assured this newspaper that this omission was “an involuntary error” because the only activity the company had had was receiving a transfer from Ecuador for $20,000. .

This newspaper requested an interview with Alejandro Vinelli Ayala, his father and his brother via email, but received no response.

In the lawsuit filed in the United States, two sisters and two nieces of Juan Vinelli Aguirre also appear as Biscayne Capital investors. One of these is Paola Coba Vinelli, who was a Petroecuador official.

She worked in the International Trade Management, under the orders of Nilsen Arias Sandoval, and became Senior Marketing Coordinator. Both share responsibility, along with other former officials, in millionaire glosses issued by the Comptroller’s Office due to the oil pre-sale contracts granted to Petrochina, Unipec and Petrotailandia.

EL UNIVERSO reviewed four internal Comptroller reports and various legal proceedings, and found thirteen glosses against Coba Vinelli for a total of $4.7 million.

The largest amounts to $4.1 million. The Comptroller’s resolution determined that Petroecuador lost that amount between 2010 and 2013 in several deliveries of oil pre-sold to Petrochina. According to the report, the damage occurred because the formula established in three contracts to calculate the price of the barrels contradicted internal instructions from Petroecuador.

Coba Vinelli reviewed and signed the invoices for those shipments. That is why the gloss was issued against him and other officials. This newspaper requested an interview, but received no response.

Now, she appears on her social networks residing in Canada. His father, Julio César Coba, is a partner in the Ecuadorian Megarmi SA along with Juan Vinelli Aguirre and his wife, Guadalupe Ayala Guerrero. In 2016, this company obtained the concession for the Paishayacu 1, 2 and 3 mining areas (in Napo and Orellana), where there could be gold deposits.

The RUC of this company has registered several activities in addition to mining, including the sale of equipment to the Armed Forces and the Police. Megarmi presented himself as a representative of the state company China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation (Catic) in 2007 to offer helicopters to the Ecuadorian Air Force in the process where the Dhruv were acquired, according to a document revealed by the Investigative Journalism portal.

Another activity of Megarmi has been the sale of medical equipment and pharmaceutical products. Alejandro Vinelli has another company dedicated to this same business. It’s called Salumed S.A.

This company has obtained many public contracts with various institutions. EL UNIVERSO found 225 contracts since 2009, for a total of $24.1 million. The most expensive is the one signed with the Municipality of Quito for the sale of tests for COVID-19. It is the business that keeps Alejandro Vinelli on the run from Ecuadorian justice. (I)