Dutch Financier Simon Verhoeven Arrested in Germany Over Plus Ultra Money Laundering Case

German authorities arrested Dutch financier Simon Leendert Verhoeven over his alleged role in a money laundering scheme linked to Venezuelan funds that financed airline Plus Ultra, according to reports by El País and El Mundo.

The arrest marks an escalation in the judicial inquiry known as the Plus Ultra case, which is currently overseen by judge José Luis Calama at Spain’s National Court, the Audiencia Nacional. German police notified the Spanish tribunal of the detention, and legal sources consulted by El País indicate that Verhoeven will likely be transferred to Spain on Thursday to face questioning under an arrest and surrender order.

The Bridge Loans and the Venezuelan Fund Connection

Investigators consider Verhoeven a central figure in coordinating a series of allegedly fictitious loans deployed by Plus Ultra between 2020 and 2021. According to the investigation cited by El País, these financial maneuvers were designed to provide legal cover for illicit funds repatriated from Venezuela before the airline subsequently used a 53-million-euro rescue package granted by the Spanish government.

The inquiry specifically targets bridge loans totaling approximately 1.3 million euros that Verhoeven funneled to the carrier through various corporate entities. Investigators traced two of those purported contracts to the period between October and November 2020—executed via an England-registered company represented by Verhoeven alongside a Swiss-domiciled fund—and a third contract executed in January 2021 through a company registered in Gibraltar.

Swiss Investigation and International Scope

The broader judicial proceedings originated from an investigation in Switzerland, where Leendert Verhoeven also remains under official investigation. Swiss prosecutors previously requested the cooperation of Spanish authorities to execute a search at one of the financier’s properties in Palma, establishing a cross-border paper trail that fed into the Spanish court’s probe.

The ongoing case also involves scrutiny surrounding former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, who is being investigated by the Audiencia Nacional. With Verhoeven now in custody in Germany, the judicial process enters a phase aimed at bringing the Dutch broker before Judge Calama in Madrid.