US increases pressure on Venezuelans amid economic fallout

The United States imposed sanctions on Tuesday that target a Venezuelan currency exchange network scheme it said syphoned billions of dollars to corrupt insiders of President Nicolas Maduros' government, the U.S. Treasury Department said. "Venezuelan regime insiders have plundered billions of dollars from Venezuela while the Venezuelan people suffer. Treasury is targeting this currency exchange network which was another illicit scheme that the Venezuelan regime had long used to steal from its people,” Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. Treasury cited seven people and 23 groups as being part of the scheme, including a former Venezuelan treasurer.

(With inputs from agencies.)