U.S. customs officials add Venezuela’s cryptocurrency superintendent to Most Wanted list

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations office in New York announced Monday that it had added Venezuela's cryptocurrency superintendent to its Most Wanted List.

Joselit de la Trinidad Ramirez Camacho is accused of "having deep political, social and economic ties to multiple alleged narcotics kingpins." Ramirez Camacho was one of a group of Venezuelan officials indicted in March alongside the country's president, Nicolas Maduro.

"Ramirez Camacho currently serves as Venezuela's superintendent of cryptocurrency and has been indicted in the Southern District of New York for violations of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the Kingpin Act, and other sanctions imposed by U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC)," the agency said in a statement.

According to ICE's website, officials are offering up to $5 million for information that may lead to Ramírez Camacho's apprehension.

Venezuela made headlines in 2018 with the news that it was creating a state-backed cryptocurrency, dubbed the petro. The controversial announcement drew condemnation from U.S. officials, who accused the country of seeking to circumvent capital controls. At the time, information about the effort was published via the Superintendencia de los Criptoactivos de Venezuela, which maintained a now-defunct Twitter account.

The most recent post on the Superintendency's Twitter account, dated June 20, 2018, is a retweet of Carlos Vargas, who previously served as the country's super superintendent. Vargas's tweet notes that Ramírez Camacho was taking over the office.

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