At the end of February, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed its Cryptocurrency Intelligence Program, which targets peer-to-peer and darknet markets for the illicit use of cryptocurrencies. Then, in a press conference one month later, the U.S. Department of Justice indicted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and 14 other top officials in the country. The charges include leveraging political offices, financial systems and cryptocurrencies for conducting and concealing a massive government-run drug-trafficking, narco-terrorism and corruption operation for over 20 years. This systemic corruption raided Venezuela of billions of dollars and economically wrecked the country, according to the U.S. prosecutors.
The U.S. maintains that Maduro and the “Cartel of the Suns,” a drug-trafficking organization comprising high-level military, government officials and intelligence operatives, weaponized 250 metric tons of cocaine against the U.S., which they allegedly delivered via Central America by airplane or via the Caribbean by boat.
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