At a lavish August gathering at a private estate in
Spain, a wealthy Venezuelan businessman under criminal investigation in the
United States introduced
Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, to the father of Venezuela’s opposition leader, Juan Guaido.
The affair was part of a campaign for leniency for the businessman, Alejandro Betancourt, who sought to demonstrate his close ties to opposition figures looking to oust Venezuela's socialist President Nicolas Maduro - a key objective of the Trump administration.
Betancourt told Giuliani he secretly helped bankroll Guaido’s efforts to take over the leadership of
Venezuela, according to four people familiar with the situation, two of whom provided details about the meeting in Spain.