Claudio Osorio (born November 16, 1958) is a

Venezuelan Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

entrepreneur and businessman based in Miami, Florida. He rose to prominence in the late 1990s (Osorio was named "entrepreneur of the year" by Ernst & Young in 1997) due to the expansion of his company

CHS Electronics CHS Electronics is a former multinational distributor of microcomputer products, personal computers, peripherals, networking products, and software. It was based in Miami, Florida from its 1994 founding to its 2000 collapse. Description The c ...

, formerly a leading international distributor of microcomputers, peripherals, and software that went bankrupt after accounting scandals.CHS Electronics files for bankruptcy
/ref> The next company Osorio founded,

Innovida InnoVida was a manufacturer of building materials, founded by businessman Claudio Osorio. It entered bankruptcy in 2011, one in a string of companies taken into bankruptcy under Osorio's leadership. History * 25 April 2007, the Osorios were in ...

, also went through receivership and, ultimately, bankruptcy. Osorio faced five separate lawsuits for fraudMiami Business Man Sued For Fraud Over Haiti Homes
/ref> after investors claimed that millions had disappeared from Innovida's accounts. He and his wife, Amarilis, were also accused of defrauding a charitable effort to build homes in Haiti after the 2009 earthquake. Osorio filed for bankruptcy in 2011. In December 2012, Osorio was arrested and charged for his alleged involvement in a $40 million fraud. In 2013 he was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in jail for fraud.

CHS Electronics

had been a public company since August 1994. In 1995, Osorio took it to

Nasdaq The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

's smallcap listing.CHS Electronics common stock accepted for Nasdaq smallcap listing
/ref> In 1997, CHS Electronics audited accounts reported $4.75 billion worth of sales, and net earnings of $48.3 million.CHS Electronics Annual Report 1998
/ref> Also in 1997, a $475 million offering of CHS Electronics stock done by Raymond James & Associates was the largest underwriting done outside New York on the year. Nearly 20 percent of the offering went to large foreign institutional investors via its European offices.Raymond James Financial company history
/ref> By 2000, however, the share price of CHS Electronics had tumbled. Osorio's CHS Electronics filed for chapter 11. Osorio has since been accused of civil fraud in several lawsuits, and was targeted by a $220 million Swiss criminal probe in relation to CHS in 2010.
/ref> It has also been reported that the SEC was investigating Osorio for "possible violations of federal securities laws."SEC investigating Claudio Osorio
/ref>

Innovida

In 2007, Osorio founded

, which was a manufacturer of building materials:Innovida Company Profile
/ref> "The company opened factories in North Miami Beach and several foreign countries. Osorio courted celebrities in January 2010 to sell the notion that he would help provide affordable homes to victims of the devastating earthquake in Haiti."
/ref> However, a bankruptcy court judge ordered in December 2011 that Innovida be liquidated, after Osorio's "proposal to reorganize the debts of his former company, InnoVida Holdings, was filed in "bad faith" and includes a "nonsense" explanation for what happened to millions of dollars in missing funds."

received $3.5 million in loans from the US Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) to build homes in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

after the earthquake. In September 2011, OPIC began questioning Innovida's "negative operating cash flow."Agency asked InnoVida for proof of money trail
/ref> A court appointed receiver in charge of investigating Innovida's finances indicated that "$37.5 million in funds had been moved offshore, but he had so far been unable to find out what happened to the money." Osorio has used his constitutional privilege of invoking the fifth amendment right against self-incrimination when asked if company funds had been used to pay personal expenses. Osorio and his former company, InnoVida, have been in bankruptcy since March 2011. After several multimillion-dollar lawsuits, Osorio was forced to put his mansion on Star Island for auction.
/ref>

Fundraising

Osorio has organised high-profile fundraising events, and has donated to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and the Democrats more than $80,000 according to Federal Electoral Commission records.

Arrest & Criminal Charges

On Friday, December 7, 2012, Claudio Osorio, and Craig Toll, InnoVida's CFO, were arrested in Miami, Florida after being indicted on two counts of wire fraud and one count of major fraud, amongst other charges. Both Osorio and Toll also face fraud charges by the SEC for violations of federal securities laws. Federal prosecutors said that Osorio defrauded investors from 2007 to 2010, exaggerating the company's finances and pocketing millions of dollars to fund a lavish lifestyle. The SEC claimed that Osorio had illegally used investor money to pay for a Miami Beach mansion, a Maserati car and a Colorado mountain retreat home.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Osorio, Claudio Venezuelan businesspeople Living people 1958 births