BACKGROUND: Law firm involved with US black list warning

The law firm Veleiro, Mihalitsianos & de la Espriella (MV & E) consists of a group of young lawyers who are part of the inner circle of friends of the children of the president, Ricardo Martinelli. says a  La Prensa report

Jesus Veleiro, Miguel Mihalitsianos and Roberto de la Espriella are inseparable friends  of Luis Enrique and Ricardo Martinelli  Martinelli’s son.They even share positions on the boards of at least two corporations. The firm has also provided professional services to  Martinelli.

Under  Unlimited Fountain Investment Company, whose resident agent was VM & E, Luis Enrique Martinelli, appears as one of the subscribers Jesus Veleiro as president and secretary, and Roberto de la Espriella, as treasurer.

In the Martiuska scompany, used by President Martinelli for the sale of an apartment in Ocean Reef to the U.S. Cuban Rogelio Oruña,  Miguel Mihalitsianos is lists as treasurer, while Oruña is representing the IBT company in Panama abd was appointed president..

Oruña has been involved in a government corruption scandal, through contracts with alleged cost overruns in the Dominican Republic, which he denies.

The lawyer confirmed that Jesus Veleiro maintains a personal and professional relationship with the family Martinelli. He said his firm has "given some legal advice." Veleiro and Mihalitsianos are childhood friends, according to several sources confirmed to La Prensa.

Another character linked to VM & E is the Deputy Minister of Housing, Land and former Deputy Administrator of the National Authority of Land Management (Anati), Eladio Pravia Ostia.

Anonymous sources told La Prensa that Ostia Pravia worked at the firm VM & E. La Prensa communicated by  telephone with the firm, where a woman said "he no longer works here […] since last year, I think." An email was sent to  the lawyer Miguel Mihalitsianos, but at press time, there was no response.

However, says La Prensa Pravia Ostia appears as a manager of the subsidiary of IBT, Carimex-Panama, SA, with  resident agents Rajoy Cerdeira Maria del Rosario de Leon and Ramon Tello, VM & E lawyers