Venezuelan National Sentenced for Operating as Illegal Agent of Venezuelan Government in the United States

R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Todd Hinnen, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Jonathan I. Solomon, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Miami Field Office, announced that defendant Franklin Duran was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Joan Lenard to 48 months imprisonment, followed by 3 years of supervised release and a fine of $175,000. Following the service of his term of incarceration, the Court ordered that Duran be surrendered to the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation proceedings.

Duran, a Venezuelan national, was previously convicted by a jury on charges of acting and conspiring to act as an agent of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ("Venezuela") within the United States, without prior notification to the Attorney General of the United States, as required by law.

Mr. Acosta commended the investigative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its work in this investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Thomas J. Mulvihill, Assistant United States Attorney John Shipley and Senior Trial Attorney Clifford I. Rones, of the Counterespionage Section at the Justice Department's National Security Division.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.