"Smartmatic International [has acquired] California-based Sequoia Voting Systems, whose machines serve millions of U.S. voters. Smartmatic...has been accused by Venezuela's opposition of helping [president] Chavez rig elections in his favor. Yet somehow Smartmatic International and its Venezuelan owners were able to purchase Sequoia last year without the deal receiving any scrutiny from federal regulators. Smartmatic International is owned by a Netherlands corporation, which is in turn owned by a Curacao corporation, which is in turn held by a number of Curacao trusts controlled by proxy holders who represent unnamed investors, almost certainly among them Venezuelans Mugica and Anzola [the company founders] and possibly others." -- Richard Brand