Miguel Ángel Capriles López, better known as “Michu,” embodies the metamorphosis of Venezuela’s old elite into a parasitic class that learned to survive every regime. Heir to press magnate Miguel Ángel Capriles Ayala and Carmen Cecilia López Lugo, he was the only son among seven siblings —Mayra, Tanya, Mishka, Perla, María Pía, and Cora Capriles López— and the only one who turned the family name into a symbol of corruption, power, and decay.
When his father died in 1996, Michu carried out one of the most calculated acts of family dispossession in modern Venezuelan history. With the complicity of his mother and a network of corrupt judges and lawyers, he displaced his father’s second wife, Magaly Cannizzaro, and his half-brother, Miguel Ángel Capriles Cannizzaro, from their rightful inheritance. Through a rigged legal maneuver, he took control of the family holding company, Vadesa, valued at over $700 million. That operation —backed by lawyers such as Allan Brewer Carías and Ángel Bernardo Viso— was supported by the so-called “Cartel of Damascus,” a judicial mafia that turned fraud into an institution.
From that moment on, Michu perfected the art of using the law as a tool for plunder. Once in full control of Vadesa, he emptied accounts, moved assets, and diverted funds. He sold 13.6% of the Electricidad de Caracas through Brown Brothers Harriman in New York, created offshore shell companies in the British Virgin Islands and Panama, and siphoned off over $420 million from banks including Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, and Banco Mercantil. His model was simple: strip, hide, and reinvest.
When Hugo Chávez rose to power, Michu didn’t lose ground — he adapted. He turned Últimas Noticias —Venezuela’s largest newspaper— into the main amplifier of government propaganda. In exchange, he received state advertising contracts, judicial protection, and preferential access to foreign currency. And when the country collapsed, he sold his media conglomerate under a cloak of legality. The transaction was executed through a shell company registered in Curaçao, Latam Media Holding, linked to London’s Hanson Asset Management. Behind the operation were chavista bankers Víctor Vargas and Juan Carlos Escotet, under the watch of Nicolás Maduro himself. The deal —estimated between $140 and $185 million— violated every Venezuelan law restricting foreign ownership of media companies, but it served to launder capital and cement an alliance with the Bolivarian regime.
With his fortune cleansed, Michu moved his empire to Spain. From Madrid, he commands a maze of real estate and financial firms: Agartha Real Estate, Orinoquia Real Estate, Gran Roque Capital, Invecap Inversiones Inmobiliarias, and Cadena Capriles Corp. In parallel, he controls companies in Panama, Lisbon, and Miami, including Leblac Enterprises, MACL Castellana, Oikos Cap Gestiones Inmobiliarias, Ventuari Rentals, Grabados Nacionales, and Unit 702 Tower Residences. Behind the facade of a luxury developer, he continues to move the same money siphoned years ago from family assets and public funds.
The Capriles clan remains a well-oiled machine. His sister Tanya Capriles de Brillembourg is entangled in lawsuits over the collapse of Brilla Bank in Miami. His nephew David Brillembourg has been accused of diverting Chinese-Venezuelan fund money. His cousin Armando “Coco” Capriles made millions through bond operations with Nelson Merentes and Tareck El Aissami.
Another name in the network is Eduardo Capriles, Michu’s cousin and Coco’s half-brother. A businessman of parties, contracts, and political favors, Eduardo moved between luxury and illegality. During the pandemic, he became infamous for organizing the “corona-parties” in Altamira and Los Roques —private celebrations with drugs, models, and helicopters. His name resurfaced in 2025 after the seizure of a Falcon 200 EX jet with a falsified registration (T7-ESPRT) used by Nicolás Maduro and Alex Saab, tied to a money-laundering scheme now under U.S. Justice Department investigation. Today, he hides between Spain and southern France, while his associates scramble to erase traces of their contracts with PDVSA and Bariven. His story mirrors the family’s DNA: power without accountability, wealth without origin.
But Michu’s strategy goes beyond money. In recent years, he has expanded his influence into European media through his partner, Paula Quinteros, the current CEO of the Spanish outlet The Objective. Quinteros, who presents herself as a defender of independent journalism, has served as a shield for Michu’s reputation in Madrid’s media circles. Under her management, The Objective has received indirect financing through real estate funds connected to Capriles’s business structures in Spain. Their relationship goes far beyond the personal: it is a calculated alliance that uses the language of “ethical journalism” and “press freedom” to disguise a sophisticated operation of image laundering and financial influence led by one of Latin America’s most controversial families.
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At the center of it all, Michu maintains the facade of a legitimate European businessman. But it’s his daughters who now embody the family’s latest strategy: laundering their public image. Magally, Mischka, and Mayra Capriles have become ambassadors of an aspirational, wellness-driven lifestyle. From Madrid, they run Lamarca Well, a wellness and fashion concept store located in the trendy Las Salesas neighborhood. They present it as a “wellness ecosystem,” complete with a fitness studio, a health-food restaurant, and a luxury retail space. Glossy magazines like ¡HOLA! portray them as “Venezuelan entrepreneurs revolutionizing wellbeing,” speaking about healthy living, spirituality, and balance. What remains unsaid is that their project was funded by the same offshore capital Michu funneled through his Spanish socimis and real estate holdings.
The sisters, turned wellness influencers, represent the latest mutation of a family that mastered reinvention. While their father launders money through real estate, they launder the family name through yoga classes, organic supplements, and designer clothing. In their public narrative, “Capriles” no longer evokes corruption or media monopolies, but “health, art, and balance.” It’s the aesthetic version of a much deeper cleansing: the cleansing of reputation.
Miguel Ángel “Michu” Capriles López lives between Madrid and Miami. He appears on no sanctions lists, yet his name surfaces in intelligence reports tracking Venezuelan capital flight. His fortune hides within real estate portfolios, trusts, and mirror companies. His power lies among bankers, judges, and family members spread across three continents.
The Capriles saga mirrors Venezuela itself: a ruined republic where corruption is inherited, money is laundered, and old names never die. Michu didn’t just steal an empire —he turned it into living proof that in Venezuela, power is never lost. It simply changes disguise.
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