
Oil tycoon Wilmer Ruperti showed up for a meeting with Venezuela’s intelligence agency last Thursday. A week later, he’s still in custody, one of his lawyers told Semafor.
“We’ve reached out to everybody trying to get proof of life or some support,” Winston & Strawn’s Cari Stinebower said, adding that officials still haven’t conveyed “how he’s being treated or why he’s being detained.”
Ruperti, who arrived at the meeting with a security detail, is a Venezuelan Italian shipping magnate who trades in petroleum coke. His detainment followed interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s decision to elevate the agency’s longtime chief to defense minister.
“The message is that Venezuela is open for business — but detaining businessmen for days on end without any due process or access to counsel is more old regime,” Stinebower said. “This is not law and order and not conducive of a welcoming business environment.”
The State Department and Energy Department did not respond to requests for comment.
LATEST POSTS
- 1
Poll: By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans say Trump has done more to raise prices than lower them - 2
Russian authorities threaten WhatsApp with total ban - 3
Forget 'Outer Banks.' These Gen Z-ers just want to watch 'M*A*S*H*' and 'Gilmore Girls.' - 4
China’s new condom tax will prove no effective barrier to country’s declining fertility rate - 5
Embrace Effortlessness: Moderation and Cleaning up Tips
Flat Earth, spirits and conspiracy theories – experience can shape even extraordinary beliefs
These Cities Led Global Jet-Setting In 2025, According To New Data
The face is familiar, the name might not be. The king of "Hey, it's that guy!' roles is ready to show you his next act.
Bird flu poses risk of pandemic worse than COVID, France's Institut Pasteur says
Do-It-Yourself Home Style on a Careful spending plan: Imaginative Thoughts and Tasks
Huge rotating structure of galaxies and dark matter is detected
Timex Gives Its Classic Affordable Field Watch a Tactical, Milspec Makeover
The Best Games On the planet
Astronomers may have spotted the 1st known 'superkilonova' double star explosion













