The US Department of Treasury announced last Thursday that they would be placing sanctions on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s three stepsons as well as on their Colombian business associates who they allege were involved in a food-aid distribution corruption scheme.

As opposition leader Juan Guaido’s battle to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was making international headlines, some in his interim government were spending aid money on lavish dinners, hotels, nightclubs and shopping trips, according to a PanAm Post investigation published on Friday.

During the rule of Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan government awarded generous electricity contracts and oil concessions to a group of young businessmen who built power plants during a series of widespread blackouts. Almost 10 years later, as Venezuela continues to struggle with its electricity supply, leaked documents reveal more about the deals.

Many Venezuelan fleeing their troubled country fall prey to human traffickers as they search for a better life, Transparency International warned in a press release on Monday.

Washington added more sanctions last week on Venezuela and two of its key allies, Nicaragua and Cuba, as the Trump administration ramps up its efforts to push Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro out of office.

A prominent Venezuelan journalist who had been reporting on the country’s political crisis was released from detention by authorities late Tuesday after spending over 24 hours in lockup.

OCCRP’s Bulgarian partner Bivol has identified a Bulgarian lawyer as the owner of a bank account allegedly used to launder hundreds of millions of dirty dollars on behalf of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela's economy is in ruins, but there are still fortunes to be made. One of these — estimated to be worth $100 million — is that of a man named Carlos Luis Aguilera Borjas. And he's not just a businessman. For years Aguilera served the country's revolutionary leader, Hugo Chavez, as a bodyguard, later rising to lead its security agency. How did he make his money after leaving the socialist government?

A former Venezuelan national treasurer was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Tuesday after pleading guilty to receiving over US$1 billion in bribes as part of a currency exchange and money laundering scheme, the United States Department of Justice said.

United States federal prosecutors charged on Tuesday the owner of a Venezuelan news network with money laundering and bribery for his role in a billion-dollar currency exchange scheme to which a former Venezuelan official and a former owner of a bank in the Dominican Republic pleaded guilty.

Six people were killed and at least five wounded when anti-corruption protesters clashed with police on Sunday over the lack of a trial for the alleged misuse of US$3.8 billion in public funds Haiti received from Venezuela,Al Jazeera reported.

The US Department of Justice is seeking documents from the world’s largest commodities trader, Glencore, over intermediary companies that it uses in Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Nigeria, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

At least two people were killed and dozens were injured as anti-corruption protesters numbering in the thousands surged through the streets of the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince this week, the Associated Press reported.

The former managing director and vice chairman of Swiss Bank pleaded guilty on Wednesday for his role in the laundering of over one billion dollars that were embezzled from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company, the US Department of Justicesaid.

Eight former Venezuelan officials and businessmen were charged and two arrested in Miami for their alleged roles in a sophisticated and complex US$1.2 billion money laundering scheme, theUS Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

The US Justice Department Monday ordered Glencore, a Switzerland-based mining giant, to hand over documents relating to alleged money laundering and corruption. Following the announcement, shares in the firm hit a one-year low.

Organized crime groups are running a criminal system out of prisons in Venezuela and the Maduro administration has only bolstered their power, InSight Crime reported Monday.

If Nicolas Maduro wins another term, cocaine cartels will further secure their foothold in the government, InSight Crime reported Thursday.

Venezuela’s humanitarian crisis is threatening those who carry the future in their bellies. Pregnant women are going without adequate food or medical attention in the midst of a  national economic emergency. The government insists on attributing the crisis to an external plot to overthrow it, while the opposition blames the administration for inefficiency and corruption.

Photo by: Adriana Fernandez Loureiro / Efecto Cocuyo

Latin American and European finance ministers met in Washington on Thursday to discuss Venezuela’s international financial standing and alleged corruption, the Washington Post reported.