US Department of Justice charges Maduro ally Alex Saab with money laundering

(Patria) - U.S. prosecutors have charged Alex Saab, known as former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s “bagman,” with money laundering for allegedly exploiting Venezuela’s social welfare program, according to court documents, Reuters reported.

Saab, a Maduro ally, was deported by interim president Delcy Rodriguez over the weekend to the U.S. in a move she said was “justified by national interests.”

The deportation signaled a new level of coordination between the Donald Trump administration and Rodriguez, a former vice president under Maduro.

Saab, a 55-year-old former Venezuelan minister of industry, conspired to bribe Venezuelan officials and moved money through U.S. bank accounts to enrich himself, prosecutors allege. He first appeared in court on Monday afternoon in federal court in Miami.

The charges come as President Donald Trump’s administration prepares to try Maduro, who was captured by U.S. special forces in Caracas earlier this year.

Reuters previously reported that Saab could provide information to U.S. authorities to bolster their criminal case against Maduro.

In court filings, prosecutors describe a widespread scheme that began in 2015 in which Saab and others used shell companies, shipping records and invoices to steal hundreds of millions of dollars intended for food purchases for Venezuelans.

Starting in 2019, Saab and his alleged co-conspirators used their access to the Venezuelan government, which struggled to pay foreign debts amid U.S. economic sanctions, to sell billions of dollars of oil under false pretenses, prosecutors wrote, alleging that money from those sales was also moved through U.S. bank accounts.

“These charges are a direct result of the DEA’s continued commitment to dismantling corrupt networks operating throughout Venezuela,” said U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration administrator Terrance Cole.

This is not the first time U.S. authorities have charged Saab with bribery. In 2020, he was detained in Cape Verde and then taken to the U.S.

President Joe Biden later pardoned him in 2023 in exchange for the release of Americans detained in Venezuela.