As Venezuela descends into ruin and millions flee their homeland, one byproduct of its lethal socialism has generally gotten off scot-free: the crony capitalist oil billions of Venezuela's Chavista nomenklatura elites, made rich by looting Venezuela's oil bounty.

Federal prosecutors have frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in South Florida luxury real estate and other assets linked to a network of Venezuelan business people and former government officials charged with laundering more than $1 billion that U.S. authorities say was stolen from the country's vast oil income. Among the targeted assets are at least 17 South Florida homes, condos and horse ranches ranging in total value from $22 million to $35 million, based on property assessments in public records and real estate market estimates. They include a condo in the Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach, a residence in the affluent Bay Point area of Miami, four homes in the exclusive Cocoplum neighborhood of Coral Gables, and two ranches in the wealthy equestrian community of Wellington in Palm Beach County. Also facing federal forfeiture: More than $45 million that has already been seized by U.S. authorities in the past year, along with additional deposits at City National Bank of New Jersey and other financial institutions in the Bahamas, England and Switzerland.

That's the flip-side of socialism, which makes so much of its love for equality and standing up for the little guy. Thank goodness President Trump's administration has begun rolling up that slimy little reality, and what's better, there's likely more to come.

Two things happened in Venezuela that brought about this grotesque inequality in the midst of Venezuela's starvation and flight:

One: The socialization of the state oil company by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez directed millions in oil profits from what should have been reinvestment and maintenance funds toward social spending programs to buy votes from the poor. Sound familiar? Net result: The oil company started falling apart and production began falling.

Two: In 2002-2003, Chávez fired 10,000 state oil company (PDVSA) professionals and replaced them with political loyalists, none of whom had much knowledge of the oil industry. Their only reason for being there was their political loyalty to Chavista socialism. That politicized what had up until then been a professionally run organization into an organization whose decisions revolved around political loyalty. The more loyalty, the more "opportunities" for draining the oil coffers at a time of high oil prices and significant market demand. More oil profits were looted from the state oil coffers, and the oil company fell apart even further. PDVSA is now in such bad shape that it looks as though it's about to lose its critical Citgo refining distributorship for non-payment debt.

Those "boliburgueses" who got all the oil money for their political loyalty to socialism have since been whooping it up in Miami, buttressed by corrupt money-laundering bankers who've enabled them, like that guy from Julius Baer who got busted in the article above.

...except that now, it looks as though the party is coming to a close, thanks to these actions by the administration of President Trump.

This tweet, from former PDVSA board member, banker, and opponent of the regime Pedro Burelli, who knows what he is talking about, is worth noting:

Investigación en banco suizo Julius Baer seguramente resultará en muchos más datos sobre billones robados a Venezuela por una amalgama de niñitos ricos, operadores corruptos, funcionarios rojos, rojitos, y otras figuras claves de la nomenclatura chavista. https://t.co/V301TfCZfX — Pedro Mario Burelli (@pburelli) August 24, 2018

Translation:

The investigation at Swiss bank Julius Baer will surely result in many more data on billions stolen from Venezuela by an amalgam of wealthy little boys, corrupt operators, red officials, Rojitos, and other key figures of the Chávez nomenklatura.

If socialism is ever to be discredited forever as the corrupt crony capitalist elitist scheme it really is, that day can't come soon enough, and these individuals in line to be busted can't be publicized loudly enough. What's more, with a post-socialism Venezuela likely to be direly in need of funding, their stolen lootings will be needed as working capital to try to restore the country. Thank goodness the ball has gotten rolling now with these banker busts. Party's over for Venezuela's ravenously greedy thieving socialist elites. The ratlines out of Miami are likely to begin shortly.

Image credit: The Photographer via Wikimedia, CC BY-SA 3.0.