Big-Oil Billionaire Makes Big on Trump's Invasion of Venezuela
This is Big-Oil intrigue with an imperial golden flourish, Venezuelan style.
Today I have to keep my editorial short and sweet, even though there was a lot of important news. For me, it was a day of somewhat routine doctor visits in addition to my normal eight-hour work day. So, I’m just going to summarize the one story below that captured my attention the most due to its level of Big-Oil intrigue with a Venezuelan flourish. It’s about a billionaire who is one of Trump’s repeat megaMAGAdoners, who is going to make a literal killing off of what just happened in Venezuela.
According to Venezuela, at least a hundred people died in the attack that sacked Maduro and brought him to the US for trial. So, that’s the killing part. The interesting part is how masterfully poised billionaire Paul Singer was to profit immensely off of those killings. I’m going to give you the encapsulated version of the story in this short editorial, and then you can read the full story in the headlines posted below:
Paul Singer is one of Trump’s top MAGA megabucks billionaires. He donated $5-million to Make America Great Again Inc., Trump’s Super PAC, tens of millions during 2024 to support Trump’s allies in their campaigns, including $37-million to support the election of Republicans to Congress. He also donated an undisclosed amount to fund Trump’s second transition, and he contributed $1-million to oust Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who had become Trump’s leading Republican critic over his refusal to release the Epstein Files.
Trump admitted he tipped off some billionaires BEFORE he attacked Venezuela, even though he didn’t say anything to congress about the invasion. So, the president would risk the surprise element by tipping off billionaires, but kept congress entirely in the dark so far as we have heard from members of congress.
Trump announced to the world right after his invasion that the US would have “our very large United States oil companies” go into Venezuela, which he said the US will “run” indefinitely, to “start making money … for the United States.”This, he said as if he was certain the companies would do that, even though many business people speculated US companies would be very reluctant to do business in Venezuela due the potential for a lot more conflict and especially due to past treatment.
The biggest beneficiary in the world from oil that is pillaged by way of this takeover is PAUL SINGER because …
Less than two months before Trump’s invasion, Singer’s investment firm, Elliott Investment Management, purchased Citgo, the US-based subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, for $5.9 billion—a sale that was forced by a Delaware court after Venezuela defaulted on its bond payments.
Singer acquired the three Citgo refineries, 43 oil terminals, and more than 4,000 gas stations at a “major discount” because of Citgo’s distressed status. Advisers to the court overseeing the sale estimated its value at $11-13 billion, so the Venezuelan government took a 50% haircut. The Venezuelan government, however, estimated it at $18 billion. Either way, big fire sale due to court order.
Now the intriguing part. Citgo value crashed prior to the sale due to Trump’s oil embargo on Venezuela. Hence, the haircut.
Singer’s business M.O. is to buy the debt of struggling countries like Argentina for pennies on the dollar.
Singer has reportedly met with Trump directly at least four times since he was first elected in 2016, most recently in 2024. Organizations Singer funds have pushed aggressively for Trump to take maximal action to decapitate the country’s leadership. (Some, along with Singer’s donations amounts, are spelled out in the article.)
Since Citgo was Venezuela’s own big-oil company, Singer now has his hands on all the levers for moving oil inside of Venezuela to outside of Venezuela and will have Trump’s full backing and military protection to get the crude moving where Singer and the US will profit immensely from the takeover of both the oil company and the country.
To help make sure the oligarchy has all the power it needs to move oil around the world, Trump just announced he is going to expand the most massive (trillion-dollars per year) military budget in US history by 50%.
I have determined that, for the Good of our Country, especially in these very troubled and dangerous times [which I am making more dangerous by the day], our Military Budget for the year 2027 should not be $1 Trillion Dollars, but rather $1.5 Trillion Dollars. This will allow us to build the “Dream Military” that we have long been entitled to and, more importantly, that will keep us SAFE and SECURE, regardless of foe.
You know how we have all dreamed of a much larger military at a much higher price! That has been the American dream of … well, at least, every neocon I know of. Trump’s imperial vision will cost us much more and provide us with the golden military of our dreams. This is an MIC wet dream for sure.
The U.S. Navy will begin building a new class of war ship that will be the centerpiece of President Donald Trump’s “Golden Fleet” initiative, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Announced late Monday, the new vessels will be labeled “Trump-Class” ships...The new project comes after Trump criticized U.S. Navy ships for being “ugly” during a speech earlier this year.
Ugly no more. From now on, we will be blowing up other nations in grand style. (Bill Bonner does a good commentary on that in the headlines below, too)
