NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. government on Friday announced criminal charges against a top official in Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government for violating sanctions imposed two years ago, when the official was accused of drug trafficking.
Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah, Venezuela's industry minister, was accused of evading the February 2017 sanctions by hiring U.S. companies to provide private jet services, including for a Feb. 23 return trip to Venezuela from Russia.
Venezuelan businessman Samark Jose Lopez Bello, an El Aissami associate also sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, was also criminally charged, as were several other defendants.
