VĂctor de Aldama, through his lawyer JosĂ© Antonio Choclán, has presented his final defense before the Supreme Court. His main argument is that he did not devise any corruption network, but rather was recruited by an already established criminal organization since 2015, when he contacted high-ranking state officials who were already corrupt. Choclán acknowledges the crimes of criminal organization, bribery, and insider trading, but insists that his client was neither the boss nor the creator of the scheme.
The algorithm of corruption: how to scale within a criminal network đź§
Aldama's defense presents a scheme similar to that of a computer system: the user does not program the malware, but is infected by it. In criminal networks, access to key nodes (high-ranking officials) allows for privilege escalation. Aldama would have been a malicious script executed on an already compromised system. The difference is that, in cybersecurity, the patch is the report. Here, the patch seems to be the sworn statement. Choclán's final report acts as a forensic analysis: it detects the exploit but exonerates the executable.
Aldama: the junior who snuck into the corruption startup đź’Ľ
So, Aldama was the intern who arrived at the company when everyone was already stealing. According to his defense, he didn't set up the shady business, he just asked for a coffee and they gave him a commission. It's like arriving at an office, seeing everyone with their hands in the till, and being told: you too, because here, if you don't run, you fly. So Aldama, instead of calling the police, asked for a front-row seat. Now he says he was just another employee. Quite a resume.