Maduro ally deported to US, faces charges in Venezuela oil, food scheme

A close ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been deported by Venezuela to the United States, according to Venezuelan officials, to face federal charges accusing him of orchestrating a massive money laundering and corruption scheme linked to Venezuela’s state-run food program and oil industry.

Alex Nain Saab Moran, 55, of Colombia, former minister of Industry and National Production during the Maduro regime, appeared Monday in federal court in Miami, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida. The Justice Department said Saab was presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Prosecutors say Saab led a scheme that began around 2015 and lasted several years to defraud a humanitarian program intended to provide food to poor Venezuelans.

He and his accomplices then allegedly sold billions of dollars worth of Venezuelan state-owned oil while circumventing U.S. sanctions, according to the Justice Department. Authorities say the funds were routed through U.S. bank accounts in an effort to conceal the transactions and advance the scheme.

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (L) speaks to 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 U.S. 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,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said in a statement. “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 their corruption.”

Starting around 2015, Saab and his associates allegedly paid bribes to Venezuelan government officials to obtain contracts related to the country’s CLAP social assistance program, intended to purchase and distribute food to vulnerable and poor Venezuelans.

Instead of delivering the promised food, prosecutors say the group used shell companies, fraudulent invoices and falsified shipping records to divert hundreds of millions of dollars from the program for its own personal gain.

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Businessman Alex Saab walks through the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, February 20, 2024. (Carlos Becerra/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Around 2019, as draconian U.S. sanctions crippled Venezuela’s oil exports and strained the country’s finances, including its ability to pay Saab and his associates under the CLAP program, Saab and his partners allegedly exploited their corrupt ties to government officials to access billions of dollars of oil owned by Venezuela’s state-owned oil company.

Officials say the group sold the oil under false pretenses and used the profits to maintain and expand the original food fraud scheme.

Saab and his associates allegedly laundered the allegedly stolen funds through U.S. bank accounts in an attempt to conceal the trail of the money, thereby giving U.S. authorities jurisdiction to pursue the case.

“When illicit proceeds pass through the U.S. financial system, our courts have jurisdiction and our prosecutors will act,” U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones said in a statement.

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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (R) shakes hands with Colombian 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 Cape Verde in 2021. He was pardoned by President Biden in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange, although prosecutors say the new case involves alleged conduct not covered by that pardon.

A Miami-based lawyer 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 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).