[5] In 2007 Cedeño, then President of Bolivar-Banpro Financial Group, was arrested in a crackdown by Venezuelan officials on individuals circumventing government currency rules to gain U.S. dollars.
[3][6][7][8] He was accused by authorities of helping the company obtain over $25 million from the currency exchange board in order to pay for computer imports that never entered Venezuela.
[9] Over the next year prosecutors repeatedly failed to turn up for court dates, leading to accusations that the case was being strung out due to a lack of evidence.
[citation needed] Further, still according to Cedeno's lawyers, the criminal charges against Cedeño appear to have been part of an orchestrated effort to force him to sell bank assets to individuals close to Chávez at an enormous discount.
[10] Cedeño's lawyers argued that the case "identifies the typical pattern employed by the pliant judiciary to attack Chávez's political opponents".