Alex Saab, the long-described “bag man” of deposed Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro, has pleaded guilty to a single count of money laundering linked to an alleged bribery conspiracy to secure lucrative government contracts in Venezuela.
Saab's Role In the Scheme
The recent indictment accused the former Minister of Industry and National Production of Venezuela of setting up a sting of companies alongside other co-conspirators to bribe top Venezuelan officials controlling contracts to import food and medicine.
The contracts were part of Venezuela’s Local Committees for Supply and Production (CLAP in Spanish) Program, a government-run food distribution program. The program served to combat national food shortages and economic crises.
As part of the scheme, Saab allegedly helped create fake companies, falsify shipping records, and profit from the government contracts to import food from Colombia and Mexico.
Saab and his co-conspirators also gained access to billions of dollars in oil revenue from its state-run oil company while helping the Maduro regime evade U.S. sanctions.
Saab's Plea Deal
The Colombian-born Venezuelan businessman could face up to 20 years in prison for the laundering scheme.
As part of his plea deal, however, Saab agreed to work alongside investigators in ongoing federal probes.
The former Minister of Industry and National Production of Venezuela also agreed to give up $195 million in criminal proceeds from the laundering scheme.
Prosecutors, in turn, agreed to offer Saab less time and additional reductions if his cooperation proves valuable.
Previous Presidential Pardon
Saab was previously charged during President Donald Trump’s first administration and then arrested and extradited to the U.S. in 2021 after being arrested in Cape Verde.
In 2023, former President Joe Biden pardoned the Maduro ally in exchange for the release of ten Americans and twenty Venezuelan political dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado.
The Biden administration sought to convince the Maduro regime to hold a free presidential election as part of the deal. Maduro, however, did not adhere to the deal during the July 2024 Venezuelan presidential election.
