Thai asphalt giant implicated in Venezuela sanctions case

By JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press

CLEVELAND (AP) — A major Thai asphalt company has been implicated for money laundering in a criminal complaint against a Miami businessman accused of violating U.S. sanctions for doing maintenance work on Venezuela’s fleet of Russian fighter jets. Jorge Nobrega was arrested Sunday at Miami’s international airport. A criminal complaint filed Monday in Miami federal court allege that Nobrega’s company sold to Venezuela’s military a product to prevent its Sukhoi combat aircraft from exploding under enemy gunfire.  An Associated Press investigation last year revealed how Venezuela had been relying on the publicly traded Tipco Asphalt to blunt the impact of U.S. sanctions by paying its obligations in exchange for deep discounts on crude shipments.