H.R. 268

119 HR 268 IH: Securing Timely Opportunities for Payment and Maximizing Awards for Detaining Unlawful Regime Officials Act of 2025
 U.S. House of Representatives
 2025-01-09
 text/xml
 EN
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 I  119th CONGRESS  1st Session  H. R. 268  IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES   January 9, 2025   Mr. Diaz-Balart  (for himself,  Ms. Wasserman Schultz ,  Mr. Smith of New Jersey ,  Mr. Gimenez ,  Ms. Salazar , and  Mr. Soto ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the  Committee on Foreign Affairs    A BILL
To increase the maximum reward amount for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Nicolás Maduro Moros to $100,000,000, which shall be paid out by the Federal Government from all assets being withheld from Nicolás Maduro Moros, officials of the Maduro regime and their co-conspirators.
1.
Short titles
This Act may be cited as the   Securing Timely Opportunities for Payment and Maximizing Awards for Detaining Unlawful Regime Officials Act of 2025   or the   STOP MADURO Act  .
2.
Findings
Congress finds the following:
(1)
In 2020, the Trump administration charged Venezuela regime leader Nicolás Maduro Moros, along with other regime officials with—
(A)
participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy, which carries a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence and a maximum sentence of life in prison;
(B)
conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, which carries a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence and a maximum sentence of life in prison;
(C)
using and carrying machine guns and destructive devices during, and in relation to, and possessing machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the narco-terrorism and cocaine-importation conspiracies, which carries a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and
(D)
conspiring to use and carry machine guns and destructive devices during, and in relation to, and to possess machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the narco-terrorism and cocaine-importation conspiracies, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
(2)
On March 26, 2020, United States Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman of the Southern District of New York stated in a press release,  Today we announce criminal charges against Nicolás Maduro for running, together with his top lieutenants, a narco-terrorism partnership with the FARC for the past twenty years. The scope and magnitude of the drug trafficking alleged was made possible only because Maduro and others corrupted the institutions of Venezuela and provided political and military protection for the rampant narco-terrorism crimes described in our charges. As alleged, Maduro and the other defendants expressly intended to flood the United States with cocaine in order to undermine the health and wellbeing of our nation. Maduro very deliberately deployed cocaine as a weapon. .
(3)
The press release included a statement from United States Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan of the Southern District of Florida, who stated,  In the last couple of years, the US Attorney’s Office in South Florida and its federal law enforcement partners have united to bring dozens of criminal charges against high-level regime officials and co-conspirators resulting in seizures of approximately $450 million dollars. .
3.
Increasing the maximum reward amount for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Nicolás Maduro Moros through the Department of State rewards program
(a)
Authorization
Notwithstanding section 36(e)(1) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 ( 22 U.S.C. 2708(e)(1) ), the Secretary of State may pay, to one or more individuals who furnish information described in section 36(b) of such Act that directly leads to the arrest and conviction of Nicolás Maduro Moros, a reward of up to $100,000,000.
(b)
Source of funds
The payment authorized under subsection (a) shall be derived exclusively from the liquidation of assets being withheld from Nicolás Maduro Moros, officials of the Maduro regime, and their co-conspirators by the President or by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury pursuant to—
(1)
the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act ( 21 U.S.C. 1901 et seq. );
(2)
section 5 of the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 ( 50 U.S.C. 1701  note);
(3)
Executive Order 13692 ( 50 U.S.C. 1701  note; relating to blocking of property and suspending entry of certain persons contributing to the situation in Venezuela);
(4)
Executive Order 13850 (relating to blocking property of additional persons contributing to the situation in Venezuela);
(5)
Executive Order 13884 ( 50 U.S.C. 1701  note; relating to blocking property of the Government of Venezuela); or
(6)
any other sanctions provision.