Indictments Stir Plot in the Case of the Cash-Filled Bag

MIAMI — A federal grand jury here indicted four Venezuelans and one Uruguayan on Thursday on charges of illegally operating as agents of the Venezuelan government in covering up a scheme to deliver $800,000 in a cash-filled suitcase to the campaign of Argentina’s new president.

The affair of the $800,000 suitcase has read like a spy novel since it was first revealed by the United States attorney’s office here last week.

Federal investigators allege that Venezuelan businessmen and an emissary from Venezuela’s intelligence service used a variety of tactics to try to prevent a Miami businessman, Guido Antonini Wilson, from revealing that the money he carried to Argentina was being sent from the government of Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chávez, to the campaign coffers of the since-elected Argentine president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

The investigators say those tactics included a bribe of $2 million, offers to falsify documents and outright threats against Mr. Antonini Wilson’s family.

Beyond the intrigue, the American investigation has infuriated leaders in Latin America, who say the case is motivated more by American foreign policy toward Venezuela than by a search for justice.

The case has dealt an especially severe blow to American-Argentine relations. Two years ago, diplomatic relations between the countries dipped sharply when Néstor Kirchner, Mrs. Kirchner’s husband and the president at the time, played host to a meeting of Latin American leaders who roundly criticized the United States. Mr. Chávez was among those leaders.

But Thursday’s indictment caps a week in which relations between Argentina and the United States appeared to hit a new low. Mrs. Kirchner has reacted angrily to the investigation, which became public just two days after she was sworn in, saying it is meant to drive a wedge between Argentina and Venezuela.

American officials have denied that the case was brought to try to thwart Mr. Chávez.

“We hope the Argentine government would understand this is purely a matter of law enforcement and not policy,” Sean McCormack, a State Department spokesman, said Thursday in an interview. “Our agenda for the hemisphere isn’t centered around one country, or one person. It is about free trade, good governance and social justice.”

Earlier this week, Mrs. Kirchner restricted the diplomatic access of the American ambassador, Earl Anthony Wayne, limiting it to the Foreign Ministry only. Her foreign minister, Jorge Taiana, expressed his country’s strong disapproval of the investigation late Tuesday and demanded anew that the United States extradite Mr. Antonini Wilson, a dual Venezuelan-American citizen, for questioning.

After the cash was discovered in Buenos Aires on Aug. 4, Mr. Antonini Wilson was allowed to return to the United States, where he began working with American investigators, wearing a wire and agreeing to be watched by F.B.I. agents. His cooperation led to the indictments on Thursday.

The five indicted men are accused of scheming to silence Mr. Antonini Wilson, threatening his family and offering him $2 million. The indictment alleges that they held a series of meetings with Mr. Antonini Wilson and told him that various high-ranking Venezuelan government officials knew about the conspiracy, including the director of the Veneuzelan intelligence service, the vice president’s office and a high-ranking official from the Justice Ministry.

The indictment stopped short of actually naming Mrs. Kirchner as the intended recipient. But the lead prosecutor in the case, Thomas J. Mulvihill, said in open court last week that her campaign was the target.

Mr. Mulvihill went further at a hearing on Monday, saying that numerous conversations recorded by the F.B.I. made “it very clear that an agreement had been reached between the Veneuzelan and Argentinian” governments “in which the true source of those funds would be suppressed and this whole problem would go away as long as Mr. Antonini would cooperate.”

Indicted on Thursday were Moisés Maionica, 36; Antonio José Canchica Gómez, 37; Rodolfo Wanseele Paciello, 40; Franklin Durán, 40; and Carlos Kauffmann, 35. Mr. Maionica, Mr. Durán and Mr. Kauffmann were ordered detained Thursday pending trial. Mr. Paciello’s bond is being appealed by the government. Mr. Gómez remains at large.

If convicted on charges of conspiracy and acting as agents of a foreign government without prior notification, the five men each face a maximum of 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.

Mrs. Kirchner, who said during her campaign that she would try to improve relations with the United States and with Europe, has called the American investigation “garbage operations” and defended Venezuela as an Argentine ally. The Argentine Congress, controlled by the president’s Peronist party, voted 128 to 62 in support of a resolution repudiating the American action.

“This is a measure of how deep the suspicions are that the Argentines immediately saw this as something that was politically motivated,” said Michael Shifter, a vice president at the Inter-American Dialogue policy center in Washington.

Argentine and Venezuelan investigators have turned up little since the suitcase was discovered. Argentine officials want Mr. Antonini Wilson, 46, to face questioning there about possible money laundering and smuggling. An Argentine federal judge, Marta Novatti, sent Interpol an arrest warrant for Mr. Antonini Wilson on Aug. 16.

But an Argentine prosecutor, María Luz Rivas Diez, said on Thursday that a passenger on the plane, an Argentine secretary, claimed that Mr. Antonini Wilson was in the presidential palace just two days after he was caught with the cash.

“This is a test for Cristina’s government,” Mr. Shifter said. “If there is an investigation going on, she has to demonstrate she wants the truth to come out and support it. Anything less would raise serious questions about her government.”

Vinod Sreeharsha contributed reporting from Buenos Aires.