Dutch broker Simon Verhoeven arrested in Germany as key figure in Plus Ultra case

At the end of August, German police arrested Dutch broker Simon Leendert Verhoeven, described as the financial brain behind the Plus Ultra affair. He will be sent to Spain within hours to give testimony before Judge José Luis Calama, the case’s lead investigator. Verhoeven, who was subject to an international arrest warrant, is alleged to have coordinated a criminal organization involved in money-laundering alongside Luis Felipe Baca Arbulu, already detained in Aruba.

The duo allegedly provided bridge loans to the airline through offshore investment vehicles, embedding high interest rates and automatic repayment clauses. Investigations in Switzerland and France also target Verhoeven as a suspected leader of the financial network linked to Venezuela. Spanish prosecutors suspect that after a government rescue, the airline prioritized repaying Verhoeven, potentially to funnel capital out of the country.