Venezuelan-US businessman Guido Antonini sent President Hugo Chávez a letter to make a deal with the Venezuelan government related to the attempt at smuggling into Argentina a suitcase stuffed with USD 800,000 in cash presumably for election purposes, said on Tuesday an attorney during a trial in Miami.

"Antonini told Venezuela's government officials, 'If you do not give me two million dollars, I will tell the press all about it' (…) He even wrote President Chávez a letter," said attorney Ed Shohat, the agent of the main defendant in the trial derived from the scandal which is carried out in Miami, AFP reported.

US prosecutors and the defense made on Tuesday their respective pleadings to the jury that will be responsible for suing Venezuelan businessman Franklin Durán, charged by the US government with acting in Miami as a covert agent for the Venezuelan government to conceal the source and destination of the seized money.

For his part, federal Assistant US Attorney Thomas Mulvihill claimed that the cash found "was for the presidential campaign of Cristina Kirchner, then a candidate running for Argentina's president.