Can the Pentagon legally buy 35% of a Venezuelan oil company? Four senior Senate Democrats say the administration hasn’t shown it can. On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, they sent a letter challenging a proposed deal that would give the Defense Department an equity stake in NABEP, the Venezuelan oil firm.
The letter went to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Energy Secretary Chris Wright. The Wall Street Journal reported it first. Quartz and WION carried its contents on October 1.
The Legal Question
The signatories were Jeanne Shaheen, Jack Reed, Martin Heinrich and Elizabeth Warren. Each is the senior Democrat on the foreign relations, armed services, energy or banking committee, respectively. Their objection centers on authority. The Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital would hold the stake. The unit was established to finance technology deemed vital to defense, and the senators say its mandate covers loans and guarantees—not equity in private oil firms.
They want documents. The letter asks for the agreement text, its legal basis, the State Department’s plan for purchasing NABEP oil, and details on how the department vetted NABEP. It also asks whether Trump family members or political donors could benefit.
The letter cited past money-laundering investigations of NABEP leader Alejandro Betancourt in Spain, Switzerland and the United States. It also noted that no one has charged him, and that Rubio had said he wasn’t under active U.S. investigation. Reports had already disclosed the 35% stake. What’s new is a formal challenge from committee leaders who oversee the matter.
No Answer, No Brake
By October 1, no public response from the Pentagon, State Department or Energy Department had surfaced. The senators’ letter set no deadline, as far as the public record showed. It isn’t binding, so the deal could move ahead unless the administration changes course.
Treasury Targets an ATM Fraud Network
That same day, the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated 10 targets in an ATM fraud scheme, plus a separate gang leader. The network used malware to make cash machines in the United States dispense cash.
Treasury said Anibal Alexander Canelón Aguirre, known as “Prometheus,” “orchestrated” the operation. He’s on the FBI’s ten most-wanted list. The department called him “the alleged engineer of the malware” and said his network operated from Mexico and Venezuela. Reported U.S. losses reached US$40.73 million across more than 1,500 attacks as of August 2025.
The designations include two Mexican companies and Juan Gabriel Rivas Núñez, known as “Juancho,” whom the article linked to illegal gold mining. The sanctions freeze any U.S. assets belonging to those named. Treasury’s release didn’t identify Canelón’s current location.
Some online posts went further. An X headline shared Thursday morning described Canelón as a “new brain” (nuevo cerebro) located in Venezuela, while an Impacto Venezuela YouTube newscast used a similar “brain in Venezuela?” phrase. Treasury didn’t use that word. El Nacional and Infobae didn’t use it either. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would deny “these terrorist financial facilitators the resources they need.”
Why This Matters:
The two stories show different ways the government uses its power. Treasury’s action targets criminal networks that stole millions from American cash machines, using asset freezes under existing sanctions authority. The Pentagon proposal, by contrast, would put a defense-finance office into ownership of part of a private oil company, which the senators say exceeds its loan-and-guarantee mandate. From a limited-government view, the question is whether an agency can take on a new role without clear statutory backing. The letter isn’t binding, and no response has surfaced, so the deal’s legal footing may be tested only if the administration answers or Congress pushes harder.