In Miami's fast-growing Venezuelan community, few things are worse than being known as an enchufado. It's a scarlet letter worn by those believed to have enriched themselves through political connections to the regimes of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and the late Hugo Chávez.
Ask enough Venezuelans expats in Florida, and they'll tell you the state is practically crawling with these unsavory types. A suspected enchufado's business ties, alleged wealth, and proximity to corruption in Venezuela are all fair game and scrutinized through social media, WhatsApp chats, and internet blogs — on certain occasions operating on little more than suspicion.
For years, enchufado rumors have been swirling around brothers Carmelo and Levin de Grazia, the owners of the Florida-based restaurant chain Bocas Group. But the de Grazias appear to have finally reached their limit: Earlier this month, the two filed a defamation lawsuit against three South Floridians who allegedly spread gossip on blogs and social media accusing the pair of laundering money for corrupt Venezuelan officials through their restaurants.
According to the civil complaint filed in Miami-Dade Circuit Court, the ordeal began at the end of August when an anonymous Venezuelan blog, UltimaHora24, published an article claiming the de Grazia brothers and their cousin Horacio were using the restaurant chain to launder portions of the estimated $1.2 billion embezzled by officials in the Maduro regime from Venezuela's state-owned oil company. The article was then reposted and shared on social media by two other anonymous blogs: Expresa and VozDeAmerica. (The original article has been removed from UltimaHora24 but is still available in internet archives.) The brothers claim "upon information and belief" that all three of the websites are owned and operated by Doral resident Gerardo Jose Gils Dams.
Venezuelan journalist Angie Perez is also named as a defendant. The brothers' suit says Perez shared the article on her Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages and also uploaded her own Instagram post with a photo of a private jet in Opa-locka she claims belongs to Levin de Grazia.
The lawsuit claims the campaign to defame the restaurant owners was orchestrated by Cesar Gonzalez, a former co-owner of Bocas Group and former manager of a now-closed Bocas restaurant in Coral Gables. The civil complaint details an elaborate plot that supposedly involved Gonzalez paying Dams to make the posts and then, using intermediaries, requesting $70,000 from Levin de Grazia to take them down. (The suit suggests Perez's alleged involvement was limited to reposting the articles and making her own social media posts and does not link her to any attempts at extortion.)
In a public statement, Levin de Grazia said the enchufado accusations are an attack on his livelihood.
"Bocas has never lent itself, nor will it ever, for money laundering. On the contrary, the origin of the funds used for the foundation and the growth of the restaurants is completely lawful, auditable, and has been fully declared to the competent authorities in the United States of America," he wrote. "It is an unfortunate reality that entrepreneurs who work hard sometimes face attacks from disgruntled former partners."
An administrator with Expresa tells New Times the site is run by a decentralized network of journalists who did not know or have any relation to Dams. Likewise, an administrator from VozDeAmerica says the site has no relation to Dams and did not even know about the lawsuit.
No contact information is provided on UltimaHora24's website. Perez declined to comment on the lawsuit when contacted by New Times. Gonzalez has not responded to a message sent via Twitter, and Dams could not be reached for comment.
In 2015, Levin de Grazia opened the first Bocas restaurant, Bocas Grill, in Miami. In less than four years, Bocas Grill and its sister franchise, Bocas House, expanded to five other locations. Bocas Group also owns four other restaurants in the Miami area: Francisca, Kitchen of the World, Laborejo, and La Fontana. Additional Bocas Group restaurants are under construction.
The de Grazias are expats from San Cristobal, Venezuela, where their uncle, Américo de Grazia, is an opposition lawmaker in the country's national assembly. Carmelo de Grazia, Levin's brother, lives in Caracas, according to the lawsuit.
The restaurateurs' sudden success stirred suspicion among many Venezuelan expats, particularly on social media, where they wondered publicly how Levin de Grazia obtained the funding to open so many restaurants so quickly. Levin de Grazia took notice. In a 2017 WLRN article, he likened an anonymous Instagram post accusing him of money laundering to a witch hunt and said the gossip could ruin his business. "No Venezuelans here want to go to a Chavista restaurant," he said.
The business grew, and the rumors persisted. The lawsuit claims the accusations have left the plaintiffs subject to "hatred, distrust, ridicule, contempt, or disgrace."
The growth of whisper networks against suspected enchufados has coincided with a jump in federal indictments against former Venezuelan officials and individuals with Chavista ties residing in or hiding assets in the United States. There's no doubt there are plenty of enchufados around, but proving those accusations can be difficult.
The Miami-based group Veppex (an acronym for Politically Persecuted Venezuelans in Exile, in Spanish) recently launched a platform where individuals can anonymously submit information about suspected enchufados. The group says it forwards all credible accusations to the Department of Justice and other federal agencies.
"In cases where one is looking to denounce an enchufado, the best thing to do is get in touch with U.S. authorities so that they can investigate," Veppex president José Colina says, "because, in the end, you're going to need to have proof."
This story has been updated to accurately reflect the relationship between Levin and Carmelo de Grazia and their uncle, Américo de Grazia.
