Clifford Chance

PDVSA Faces U.S. Government Scrutiny

20 November 2015

According to recent news reports, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. has been under intense scrutiny by U.S. authorities and recent reports indicate that the U.S. may have more information than previously suspected thanks to National Security Agency surveillance activities. On Wednesday teleSUR, a Latin American multimedia news platform, reported that it received a March 2011 memorandum detailing the NSA surveillance and targeting of PDVSA, including increasing surveillance of PDVSA leadership and internal PDVSA communications. The memorandum, labeled, “top secret,” was provided to teleSUR by former NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden.

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