SEATTLE - Federal investigators handling the case of Jordan Goudreau, a former U.S. Green Beret who in 2020 played a key role in a failed cross-border raid of Venezuelan army deserters to oust President Nicolás Maduro, say they found DNA that matched Goudreau's on some of the 60 automatic weapons he allegedly smuggled from Florida to South America.
Although prosecutors did not specify how they obtained the DNA, they said it was found on two of the approximately 60 automatic weapons that were assembled at the Melbourne, Florida, warehouse where Goudreau was living and where his company, Silvercorp, is based.
The allegations were detailed in court papers filed a few days after Goudreau was arrested on July 31 and have the strongest evidence yet linking him to illegal arms trafficking. If convicted, Goudreau faces between 10 and 20 years in prison.
After his arrest in New York last month, a federal judge initially allowed filmmaker Jen Gatien to put up her $2 million Manhattan loft as bond to secure Goudreau's release, but prosecutors appealed and now the decision is up to a judge in Tampa, Florida, where Goudreau was indicted.
Gatien registered a Florida production company with the ex-Green Beret in 2021 and is described in court records as his girlfriend. Gustavo Garcia-Montes, an attorney for Goudreau, said the two lived together for two years while he was attending the New York Film Academy.
Goudreau's story is the subject of a future documentary titled "Men of War," co-directed by Gatien and Miami-based filmmaker Billy Corben.
Prosecutors handling the case argued that Goudreau is a flight risk, presenting what they called "overwhelming" evidence that he knowingly violated U.S. arms control laws and that he tried to hide after learning he was under investigation.
According to the evidence, Goudreau moved his bank accounts into cryptocurrency, obtained a Mexican driver's license and allegedly sneaked back and forth across the U.S. border into Mexico and Canada, where he was born and loved until emigrating and enlisting in the U.S. Army.
Internet searches on Goudreau's cell phone allegedly included "how to run and stay hidden from the feds," "how to be a successful fugitive on the run" and "what happens if I run from the law."
Goudreau garnered the spotlight in 2020 when he claimed responsibility for an amphibious raid by a ragtag group of soldiers that he had helped train in clandestine camps in Colombia. Goudreau argued that he and others were acting to protect Venezuela's democracy after Maduro's reelection in 2018 was boycotted by the opposition and condemned as undemocratic by the U.S. as well as other countries.
Prosecutors said some of the evidence to be presented at Goudreau's trial includes sales records for firearm sound suppressors, night vision devices and laser sights, which they all require a U.S. government export license that the defendant did not have.
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