US targets graft in Venezuela’s flagship food box program

By JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — Federal prosecutors have unveiled criminal charges against an alleged corruption ring accused of paying millions of dollars in bribes to a top ally of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to profit from lucrative contracts to import food and medicine at a time of widespread hardship in the South American country. The five individuals charged in an indictment unsealed Thursday include a former governor and associates of a businessman extradited this month to face criminal charges in Miami in a separate corruption scheme. The Oct. 7 indictment centers around the so-called CLAP program set up by Maduro to provide basic food staples to poor Venezuelans struggling to feed themselves amid hyperinflation and a crumbling currency.