President Trump’s raid in Venezuela and capture of President Nicolás Maduro opens up opportunities for corruption on a global scale, made far worse by a pattern of secrecy from the administration and Trump’s gutting of oversight mechanisms built to make sure that the American people can trust that their government is working for them, not for the president’s personal interests. As Americans are left in the dark about significant military action, oil companies, Trump allies and even Trump himself may profit, continuing a track record of rampant corruption and blatant disregard for the law. 

Prior to the raid, Trump tipped off oil executives, saying he was in contact with them “before and after” the operation. This is just the latest apparent giveaway to the oil industry, which along with related interests invested an estimated $75 million to support Trump’s election. He claims the raid and continued U.S. involvement in Venezuela “won’t cost us anything because the money coming out of the ground is very substantial.” In fact, the deployment as part of Operation Southern Spear is estimated to have already cost more than $600 million as of early November 2025, while Trump threatens further military action. 

It is unclear how Trump thinks the money would filter back up to the US government to reimburse taxpayers or how the administration is legally justifying this apparent breach of international law. What is clear, though, is that Trump is putting himself in the middle of a cash grab in Venezuela, saying he will control the oil himself. 

Trump’s Venezuelan oil gambit sets up allies to profit

With Trump’s power grab in Venezuela, he is positioning himself to pick winners and losers in the oil and gas industry—and giving opportunities to insiders and those who have supported him in the past. 

The opportunities for corruption are numerous and varied. For example:

  • Harold Hamm, the oil tycoon who reportedly helped organize the 2024 dinner at Mar-a-Lago where Trump solicited $1 billion from industry executives, attended the January 9th meeting at the White House about reviving Venezuela’s production. Hamm donated millions to Trump’s political apparatus and the White House ballroom.
  • Harry Sargeant III, another billionaire oil tycoon and GOP donor whose wife also donated six figures to Trump’s political operation, reportedly golfs frequently with Trump at Mar-a-Lago and has been advising Trump on getting American oil companies involved in Venezuela. 
  • Reliance Industries, a conglomerate run by Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, is reportedly in talks to secure a permit to buy Venezuelan oil. In 2024, a subsidiary of Reliance paid the Trump Organization $10 million to license the Trump name for a property in Mumbai.
  • Chevron is the only major American oil company currently operating in Venezuela, and its stock price jumped after news of the raid. Chevron also spent $4 million lobbying Congress and the Trump administration last spring in part to maintain its presence in Venezuela and donated $2 million to Trump’s second inauguration.
  • One anonymous Polymarket user made more than $400,000 by betting that Maduro would be ousted in the days and hours before the operation, raising potential insider trading concerns. 
  • Seventeen White House staffers reported holding between $820,036 and $2,250,000 in Big Oil stocks. Though they may have divested since, if White House staff continue to hold investments in oil companies, they should not be making decisions that impact those companies. 

Trump is keeping Congress and Americans in the the dark

According to Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, President Trump failed to seek congressional approval for the operation in Venezuela. In fact, Trump did not even notify key congressional leaders, known as the “Gang of Eight,” until after the mission started.

Beyond Congress, the Trump administration has granted the American people very little insight or transparency into its justification for the operation. After reportedly relying on a secret memo from the Office of Legal Counsel as a legal shield for its unauthorized strikes on boats near Venezuela and other parts of the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, the administration has once again apparently leaned on another secret memo to justify the raid, one that potentially violates domestic and international law surrounding such operations. For years, CREW has fought for these types of memos to be made public. In a democracy, there should be no body of secret law, especially not one that leads to dozens of deaths. 

Key watchdog vacancies heighten corruption risks

This latest obfuscation comes on the heels of Trump’s unprecedented attacks against transparency and oversight in the executive branch. In his second term, Trump illegally fired inspectors general, the watchdogs responsible for investigating waste, fraud, abuse and ethical misconduct in executive agencies, en masse, including the IGs for the Department of State, the Department of Defense and the Department of the Interior, all of which will play a critical role in what happens next in Venezuela. The positions at the Departments of State and the Interior remain vacant, along with the National Security Agency which has been without an Inspector General for over three years. 

Without the proper guardrails in place, these agencies, already the subject of numerous ethics scandals and conflicts of interest this past year, risk fraud and abuse infecting an already fraught situation. The destruction of transparency and oversight is not a coincidence, it was always a necessary precursor to enable Trump’s planned lawlessness. Without action, some of the very worst exploitations  may go unnoticed and unaddressed.

The potential corruption and abuses inherent in the Trump administration’s continued presence in Venezuela are vast, from ignoring the law and operating in secrecy to Trump’s desire to control a massive potential source of wealth, and handing it to corporate interests. Without proper oversight, we may never know the true extent. Congress must not allow Trump and his cronies to run roughshod over democracy and due process, using secret memos and lack of any actual accountability to obscure any profiteering.