MIAMI (AP) — A close ally of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro long described by U.S. officials as the ousted leader's frontman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a single count of money laundering tied to an alleged bribery conspiracy to win lucrative government contracts in the South American country.
As part of the plea deal, Alex Saab agreed to cooperate in continuing federal investigations, paving the way for his eventual cooperation against his former protector. He also agreed to forfeit $195 million in criminal proceeds from the corruption scheme.
Saab, 54, was deported in May by Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez to the U.S., which has been targeting the Colombian-born businessman for more than a decade.
The money laundering offense carries a maximum 20-year penalty but prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence at the low end of the recommended range and seek additional reductions should his cooperation prove substantial.
Saab was previously charged during the first Trump administration in 2019 and then arrested during a refueling stop in Cape Verde on what the Venezuelan government described as a high-level humanitarian mission to Iran.
But President Joe Biden pardoned Saab in 2023 in exchange for the release of several imprisoned Americans in Venezuela. The deal, part of a failed effort by the Biden White House to lure Maduro into holding a free presidential election, was harshly criticized by Republicans and federal law enforcement officials, who immediately began investigating Saab for other alleged crimes not covered by the narrowly tailored pardon.
“This case sends a clear message: Political connections, wealth and proximity to a corrupt regime will not put anyone beyond the reach of American justice,” said Jason A. Reding Quiñones, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who attended Tuesday’s proceedings along with more than a dozen federal agents.
The new indictment centers on contracts for the so-called CLAP program set up by Maduro to provide staples — rice, corn flour, cooking oil — to poor Venezuelans at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency.
High-level protection offered in exchange for bribes
In an eight-page statement of facts submitted as part of the plea deal, Saab admitted to skimming at least $195 million from at least six contracts awarded to companies he controlled to import food and medicine.
The scheme “had the approval, participation and protection of some of the Venezuelan government's highest ranking public authorities,” including from an individual described only as “Government Official 1A," who designated a surrogate — one of four unnamed co-defendants — to receive bribe payments on their behalf.
Also receiving $17 million in kickbacks was former Gov. Jose Gregorio Vielma Mora, a Maduro ally who with Government Official 1A's support secretly awarded a Saab-controlled company a contract in 2016 to deliver 10 million boxes of food rations in Tachira state, prosecutors allege. Vielma Mora was previously charged in the conspiracy in 2021.
To conceal the criminal activity and hide the payments, Saab said he and his associates falsified shipping records and set up a network of shell companies and bank accounts in countries including Antigua, Bulgaria, Liechtenstein, the Marshall Islands, Montenegro, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.
Over time, as U.S. sanctions deepened the country's financial woes, Saab and his associates received payment in the form of Venezuelan oil, gold and other natural resources.
In court Tuesday, Saab told Judge Kathleen Williams that he takes the antidepressant Zoloft and other medicines daily for what he described as “post-traumatic stress disorder” following his 2020 arrest.
Saab could become a witness against Maduro
U.S. officials have long described Saab as Maduro’s “bag man” and could ask him to serve as a character witness against the former president, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a raid by the U.S. military in January.
The new U.S. prosecution of Saab and Maduro is taking place as the Trump administration overhauls relations with Venezuela, focusing its attention on tapping into Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. This month, Trump announced a partnership with Venezuelan oil entrepreneur Alejandro Betancourt in which the U.S. government will gain a stake and access to at-cost crude shipments from oil fields with a potential to produce 65 billion barrels.
Saab was little known even in Venezuela until after his first arrest, in 2020, when Maduro’s government invested huge resources rallying public support for his release.
Rodríguez, then serving as Maduro’s vice president, helped mount an international campaign in which she referred to Saab as an “innocent Venezuelan diplomat” who had been illegally “kidnapped” by the U.S.
But after Maduro’s capture, Rodríguez distanced herself from Saab, firing him from her Cabinet and stripping him of his role as the main conduit for foreign companies looking to invest in Venezuela.
Saab amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts but became even more valuable to Maduro as U.S. sanctions forced Venezuela to conduct much of its oil sales and foreign trade outside of Western financial institutions.
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This story is part of an investigation that includes the FRONTLINE documentary “Crisis in Venezuela.” Watch the documentary at pbs.org/frontline, in the PBS App, on PBS stations and on FRONTLINE’s YouTube channel.
