Inside the secret account: U.S. handled $12 billion of Venezuela's oil money after Maduro's ouster, KPMG report shows
A KPMG report made public by the State Department on Thursday gives the first detailed look at a U.S. Treasury account that collected Venezuela's oil and mineral revenue from January to September. Washington says almost all of it went back to Venezuela; much of it flowed through currency interventions requested by the central bank.
Verified: State Department-released KPMG report as reported by Reuters, AP and The Washington Post
Inside the secret account: U.S. handled $12 billion of Venezuela's oil money after Maduro's ouster, KPMG report shows.
The United States collected and paid out more than $12 billion of Venezuela's natural resource revenue in the first nine months of this year through a U.S. Treasury account set up after President Donald Trump's administration seized then-President Nicolas Maduro in January, according to a report released Thursday by the State Department, Reuters, AP and The Washington Post reported.
The report, prepared by the accounting firm KPMG and dated October 29, says buyers of Venezuelan crude, along with smaller amounts of gold, minerals and fertilizer, deposited about $12.26 billion into what is called the Venezuela Custody Account between January and September 30. The New York Times first reported its details on Tuesday, when the document was still confidential.
The administration says it has returned almost 99% of that money, AP reported. Funds were released to the interim government in Caracas, led by former Maduro allies who now work closely with Washington. The Washington Post reported that most of the money went into the Venezuelan economy, some of it through banks, via "foreign exchange interventions" and other payments made at the request of the country's central bank.
"The report shows the process is working," a State Department official said in an unsigned statement, adding that the report was sent to Congress in early November.
The arrangement is unusual: a foreign country's main source of income passing through a U.S. government account, with spending decisions shaped by an interim leadership that Washington backs. Until this week, there had been no substantial public accounting of where the money went.
The report answers the headline question of how much, but leaves others open for Venezuelans and U.S. taxpayers alike: who chose which banks and importers received dollars, what controls guard against the corruption that drained Venezuela's oil wealth for decades, and how long the account will stay under U.S. control. Focus Plus Media will report further findings as more of the report becomes public.
- Associated Press: US returns over $12 billion in oil proceeds to Venezuela since Maduro's ouster, report says
- Reuters via U.S. News: US Handled $12 Billion of Venezuela's Oil Revenues, Report Says
- The Washington Post: U.S. managed $12 billion in Venezuelan oil revenue, State Department says
- Reuters on X: US handled $12 billion of Venezuela's oil revenues, report says