Maduro ally deported to US, faces charges in Venezuela oil, food scheme
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A close ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been deported by Venezuela to the United States to face federal charges accusing him of orchestrating a wide-ranging money laundering and bribery scheme tied to Venezuela’s state-run food program and oil industry, according to Venezuelan officials.
Alex Nain Saab Moran, 55, a Colombian who was a former minister of industry and national production under the Maduro regime, appeared in federal court in Miami on Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. The Justice Department said Saab will be presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Prosecutors allege Saab orchestrated a multi-year scheme that began around 2015 to defraud a humanitarian program aimed at providing food to impoverished Venezuelans.
He and his collaborators then allegedly sold billions of dollars worth of Venezuelan state oil, bypassing U.S. sanctions, according to the Justice Department. Authorities say the proceeds were transferred through U.S. bank accounts in an effort to conceal the transactions and further the scheme.
OFFICIAL SAYS MADURO ALLY ALEX SAAB WAS ARRESTED IN JOINT US-VENEZUELAN OPERATION
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (left) speaks to his supporters next to Colombian-born businessman Alex Saab during a rally in Caracas on January 23, 2024. (GABRIELA ORAA/AFP via Getty Images)
“Alex Saab allegedly used American banks to launder hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from a Venezuelan food program for the poor and proceeds from the illegal sale of Venezuelan oil,” Deputy Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement. he said. “This is unacceptable. The Criminal Division will not allow foreign actors to exploit the American financial system and use it as a safe haven for the proceeds of corruption.”
Beginning in 2015, Saab and his associates allegedly bribed Venezuelan government officials to secure contracts tied to the country’s CLAP welfare program, which aims to purchase and distribute food to vulnerable and poor Venezuelans.
Prosecutors allege that instead of delivering promised food supplies, the group embezzled hundreds of millions of dollars from the program for its own personal gain using front companies, fake invoices and false shipping records.
TREASURY TARGETS OIL TRADERS AND TANKERS ACCUSED OF HELPING MADURO ESCAPE US SANCTIONS
Businessman Alex Saab walks through the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, on Tuesday, February 20, 2024. (Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Around 2019, as sweeping U.S. sanctions disrupted Venezuela’s oil exports and put severe pressure on the country’s finances, including its ability to pay Saab and its partners under the CLAP program, Saab and his partners allegedly exploited corrupt ties to government officials to gain access to billions of dollars’ worth of oil owned by Venezuela’s state-run oil company.
Authorities allege the group sold the oil under false pretenses and used the profits to continue and expand the original food fraud scheme.
Saab and his associates reportedly laundered the allegedly stolen funds through US bank accounts in an attempt to hide the money trail, giving American authorities the authority to prosecute the case.
“When illicit proceeds are transferred into the financial system of the United States, our courts will have jurisdiction and our prosecutors will take action,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said in a statement.
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) shakes hands with Colombian-born businessman Alex Saab in Caracas on January 15, 2024. (FEDERICO PARRA/AFP)
Saab was previously indicted in the United States in 2019 and extradited from Cabo Verde in 2021. He was pardoned by President Biden in 2023 as part of a prisoner swap, but prosecutors say the new case involves alleged conduct that does not fall under that pardon.
A Miami-based attorney for Saab declined to comment to The Associated Press.
If convicted, Saab faces up to 20 years in federal prison. The government is also seeking the forfeiture of any property or proceeds allegedly obtained through the alleged criminal activity.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF), which includes the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
