By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
May 18 (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors charged Alex Saab, known as the “bag man” for former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, with money laundering over his alleged exploitation of a Venezuelan welfare plan, according to court filings unsealed on Monday.
Saab, a top ally of Maduro's, was deported by Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodriguez over the weekend to the U.S. in a move that she said was “justified by national interests.”
The deportation signaled a new level of coordination between the Trump administration and Rodriguez, Maduro's former vice president.
Saab, the 55-year-old former Venezuelan minister of industry, conspired to bribe Venezuelan officials and transferred money through U.S. bank accounts to enrich himself, prosecutors alleged. He made his initial court appearance on Monday afternoon in a Miami federal court.
The charges come as the administration of President Donald Trump prepares to try Maduro, who was captured by U.S. special forces in Caracas earlier this year.
Saab could provide U.S. authorities with information to strengthen their criminal case against Maduro, Reuters previously reported.
In the court filings, prosecutors describe a sprawling scheme that began in 2015 in which Saab and others used fake companies, shipping records and invoices to pilfer hundreds of millions of dollars earmarked to buy food for Venezuelans.
Starting in 2019, Saab and his alleged co-conspirators used their access to the Venezuelan government, which was struggling 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 transferred through U.S. bank accounts.
“These charges are a direct result of DEA’s continued commitment to dismantle the corrupt networks operating throughout Venezuela,” said U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrance Cole.
This is not the first time U.S. authorities have held Saab on bribery charges. In 2020, he was detained in Cape Verde and then taken to the U.S.
President Joe Biden later granted him clemency in 2023 in exchange for the release of Americans detained in Venezuela.
(Reporting by Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff; Editing by Michael Learmonth, Bill Berkrot, Rod Nickel)
