Report: $12.26 Billion in Venezuelan Export Revenue Passed Through a U.S. Custody Account, With $11.7 Billion Sent Back to Prop Up the Bolivar
The New York Times reported on November 10 that a confidential KPMG report it reviewed shows the U.S. government received and disbursed more than $12 billion from Venezuela's natural resource exports in the first nine months of 2026. The Venezuela Custody Account, set up by the U.S. Treasury Department, took in $12.26 billion between January 3 and September 30, mostly from crude oil sales, and held a balance of only about $170 million at the end of September.
The custody account was created after U.S. forces ousted Nicolás Maduro on January 3. It was first held in Qatar and was moved to Citibank in New York in late January. Of the money sent back to Venezuela, $11.7 billion was used to prop up the bolivar through foreign-currency auctions held by commercial banks, and about $130 million paid the Venezuelan government's foreign bills, mostly debts to other governments and international organizations. U.S. officials retained the final say over when funds were released and to whom.
The report also leaves questions open: it does not identify the ultimate beneficiaries of the currency auctions, and the $12.26 billion does not cover all of Venezuela's export revenues. KPMG describes itself as assisting the State Department in administering the account, not as its auditor; the State Department had promised Congress quarterly KPMG audits, and none has been made public. The report was written just days before the midterm elections, and Democratic lawmakers had repeatedly vowed to bring more transparency to Washington's Venezuela policy.
Source: The New York Times
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 委内瑞拉Paraguaná炼厂群的Amuay炼厂（资料图）。图：Luis Petit，公共领域，经维基共享资源 / The Amuay refinery in Venezuela's Paraguaná refinery complex (file photo). Photo by Luis Petit, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
