Maduro ally Alex Saab expected to plead guilty in federal money laundering case

Alex Saab, a close ally of deposed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, is scheduled to enter a guilty plea on Tuesday in a court prosecution alleging that he bribed officials to secure lucrative contracts to import food during a period of widespread hardship in the South American nation.

Deported in May by Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez in response to pressure from the US, which has been targeting the Colombian-born businessman for more than a decade, Saab is charged with a single count of money laundering tied to an alleged conspiracy to create fake companies, falsify shipping records and skim from government contracts to import food from Colombia and Mexico.

He is scheduled to appear before Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami on Tuesday for a change of plea hearing, according to court records.

The details of the plea were not immediately made public, and Saab’s attorney, Neil Schuster, declined to comment, but prosecutors allege Saab and others allegedly expanded their corrupt influence deep inside the Maduro government, accessing billions of dollars in oil sales from state-run oil company PDVSA.

The new indictment accuses Saab and others of setting up a web of companies to bribe top Venezuelan officials controlling contracts for the so-called CLAP programme set up by Maduro to provide staples — rice, corn flour, and cooking oil — to poor Venezuelans at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency.

The 54-year-old was previously charged during the first Trump administration in 2019 and then arrested during a refuelling stop in Cape Verde on what the Venezuelan government described as a high-level humanitarian mission to Iran.

But President Joe Biden pardoned him 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 criticised by Republicans and federal law enforcement officials, who immediately began investigating Saab for other alleged crimes not covered by the narrowly tailored pardon.

US 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 US military in January.

Saab's prosecution comes amid new US-Venezuela relations

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 Washington.

But following 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.

His prosecution now comes as the Trump administration overhauls relations with Venezuela, focusing its attention on tapping into Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.

Earlier this month, Trump announced what he called the “biggest oil deal in history” with Venezuela, a partnership with Venezuelan oil entrepreneur Alejandro Betancourt in which Washington will gain a stake and access to at-cost crude shipments from oil fields with a potential to produce 65 billion barrels.

Saab amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts but became even more valuable to Maduro as US sanctions forced Venezuela to conduct much of its oil sales and foreign trade outside of Western financial institutions.