Stripe’s billion-dollar stablecoin subsidiary Bridge Ventures Inc. has apparently been listed on documents as having sold 12 Mitsubishi trucks to a company in Venezuela with ties to the family of former president Hugo Chávez.
The stablecoin company, which Stripe acquired for $1.1 billion, appears, along with its exact street address, suite number, city, state, and zip code, on a shipment slip that sent trucks through a New Jersey port to a company in Venezuela.
At the time of the shipment, Venezuela was under broad US sanctions that covered many companies connected to the Chávez regime’s state-owned oil company PdVSA, and entities acting on its behalf.
Bridge categorically denies any involvement with the shipment. “Whatever this is about, it has nothing to do with us: Bridge had no involvement in this shipment or any associated payment activity,” a spokesperson told reporter Jason Mikula.
“The only explanation we can think of is some clerical error or confusion around a common name like Bridge.”
However, the platform’s character-by-character name isn’t particularly common, while the address on both bills of lading match US Patent and Trademark Office filings and third-party business registries like Bloomberg.
Mikula tweeted and published an article about his skepticism that a third party used Bridge’s name without its authorization.
Thundernet, a Hugo Chávez family connection
The buyer on both truck shipments from “Bridge Ventures Inc.” was Thundernet, C.A., an internet provider based in Barinas, Venezuela.
Thundernet belongs to Grupo Nemer, a conglomerate of dozens of companies across Venezuela, Panama, and the US with close ties to Chávez’s regime.
For example, Hugo Chávez’s youngest brother, Adelis, previously owned the Barinas-based Zamora Futbol Club. The club is now run by Omar Jose Nemer Irched, the eldest son of Grupo Nemer head, Syrian-born Atef Salami Nemer Hirchedd.
That soccer club’s sponsor switched from PdVSA to Thundernet.
In addition, investigative outlet Armando.info reported in 2021 that Nemer Hirchedd maintained a close relationship with another Chávez sibling, Adan Chávez Frías.
Adan served as governor of Barinas and Venezuela’s ambassador to Cuba, a relationship that allegedly helped Grupo Nemer take over operations of a bankrupt state agriculture company.
An exact name match and a denial from Bridge
According to Mikula, the shipping documents compound an already dubious compliance record.
In January 2026, he revealed Stripe’s connection via the Bridge stablecoin platform to Venezuelan crypto exchange Kontigo, rumored to have links to ousted President Nicolas Maduro’s son.
Maduro served as president of Venezuela since 2013, succeeding Chávez.
Moreover, as recently as November 2025, Bridge and Stripe executives were praising Venezuela as a stablecoin showcase.
Bridge subsequently reclassified Venezuela from “controlled” to “prohibited” in its sanctions compliance document.
The timing aligned neatly with the Kontigo fallout and Bridge’s pursuit of a national trust bank charter from the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which conditionally approved its application, after Bridge’s downward revision of Venezuela, in February 2026.
Venezuela-focused neobank Kontigo pays back users after $340K $USDC hack
The entities on the bills of lading don’t appear on OFAC’s Specially Designated Nationals list. However, Venezuela’s broad program-level sanctions arguably cover persons acting on behalf of the government.
Grupo Nemer’s opaque, multi-jurisdictional corporate structure makes verifying beneficial ownership extraordinarily difficult.
Both shipments originated from Jebel Ali port in Dubai, transited Morocco, and passed through Newark, New Jersey. The same Gmail address appeared for both seller/shipper and buyer/consignee on the documents.
