THE son of a Spanish-Venezuelan billionaire banker has been killed by a boat propeller after jumping overboard while trying to save his fiancée from drowning.
Juan Carlos Escotet Alviarez, 31, died while trying to save his fiancée, who had fallen from a 60-foot vessel about six miles off Key Largo, Florida.
He was the youngest son of Banesco founder Juan Carlos Escotet Rodriguez, who is worth $3.5billion, per Forbes.
The tragedy happened as Escotet Alviarez and fiancée Andrea Montero, 30, were competing as anglers in a tournament organized by Ocean Reef Club on Saturday.
Escotet Alviarez was hit by the propeller just as he entered the water and died from his injuries, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.
Authorities have not revealed Montero’s current condition, but Venezuelan journalist Angela Oraa reported she exited the water “without consequences.”
Oraa also reported that the couple were scheduled to be married in November.
Escotet Alviarez’s Instagram shows he was an avid fisher; one post from January shows him with Montero and others on a boat named Otoro.
A University of Miami graduate, he served as the director of the Miami-based Banesco USA, per the bank’s website.
Many took to Twitter to express their condolences.
Venezuelan journalist Blanca Vera Azaf wrote of Escotet Alviarez: “A young man whom many of us met and remember as an entrepeneur, proud to be Venezuelan, jovial, simple, very friendly.
“Comfort to his family and peace in heaven to his soul.”
Banesco has branches all over the world, including in Venezuela, Panama, the US, UK, and France.
The bank bought Spain’s Abanca in 2013 for $1.3billion.
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
Email us at exclusive@the-sun.com or call 212 416 4552.
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSunUS
