Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro does he announced the reorganization of the national supervision of crypto assets, known as Sunacrip in Spanish, according to the decree released on March 17.
The reorganization will be led by a new board headed by Anabel Pereira Fernández, a lawyer who served as president of the Fondo de Garantía de Depositos y Protección Bancaria (FOGADE), Venezuela’s version of the United States Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). Other directors include Héctor Andrés Obregón Pérez, Luis Alberto Pérez González and Julio César Mora Sánchez.
Without providing further details or specific reasons for the reorganization, the decree says the board will plan next steps for the crypto division. Maduro’s administration claims that the move is intended, among other things, to protect the country’s citizens from the negative effects of economic sanctions.
And then we publish la Gaceta Oficial Extraordinaria donde se crea la Junta Reestructuradora de la Sunacrip. https://t.co/au7uiaU7LB
— Asonacrip (Associación Nacional de Criptomonedas) (@AsonacripVe) March 18, 2023
The new board structure leaves out Joselito Ramirez, who has led the department since its inception in 2018. Ramirez was reportedly arrested on March 17 on corruption charges, according to for Venezuelan local media. At the time of writing, Cointelegraph was unable to confirm the information. Ramirez oversaw cryptocurrency taxation rules and the country’s Petro cryptocurrency.
Related: Remittances drive ‘uneven but rapid’ adoption of cryptocurrencies in Latin America
In June 2020 the US added Ramirez to his most wanted list. The Homeland Security Investigations branch of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has offered a reward of up to $5 million for any information leading to the capture of Peter’s supervisor.
At the time, authorities alleged that Ramirez had “deep political, social and economic ties” to suspected narcotics, including Tarecko El Aissami, the former vice president of Venezuela.
Ramirez’s reward was the smallest of the alleged co-conspirators, with the US government offering $15 million for the capture of Nicolás Maduro. Several other high-ranking officials, including El Aissami, face $10 million in rewards.
