Alex Saab, a 54-year-old Colombian-Venezuelan businessman and one of the closest financial allies of ousted Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, pleaded guilty on Tuesday in a federal court in Miami to conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. As part of a plea agreement, Saab agreed to forfeit $195 million in criminal proceeds and to cooperate with ongoing federal investigations, including those targeting four unnamed co-defendants. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend a sentence at the low end of the guidelines, with the possibility of further reductions depending on the value of his cooperation.

Saab admitted to orchestrating a bribery scheme in which companies he secretly controlled paid kickbacks to Venezuelan officials in exchange for lucrative government contracts under CLAP — Venezuela's Local Supply and Production Committee, a state welfare programme created to distribute subsidised staples such as rice, corn flour and cooking oil to poor families amid the country's severe economic collapse and hyperinflation. According to the US Justice Department, Saab and his associates used fake companies, falsified invoices and fraudulent shipping records to siphon hundreds of millions of dollars intended for public benefit, funnelling the proceeds through shell companies abroad, including accounts in the United States. Saab also admitted exploiting his ties to Venezuelan officials to access oil owned by state firm PDVSA, selling it under false pretences as US sanctions tightened around the country's finances.

This is Saab's second US prosecution. He was first arrested in June 2020 during a refuelling stop in Cape Verde — an Atlantic archipelago nation off West Africa — on a flight the Venezuelan government claimed was a humanitarian mission bound for Iran. He was extradited to the United States in 2021. That earlier case, which accused him of moving some $350 million out of Venezuela through social housing contracts, ended abruptly in December 2023 when then-President Joe Biden granted him clemency as part of a prisoner exchange in which Venezuela released ten Americans and around twenty political prisoners. The pardon was sharply criticised by Republican lawmakers and senior law-enforcement officials, who immediately opened fresh investigations into conduct not covered by its limited scope.

A new indictment followed in January, and in May Saab was deported to the United States by Venezuela's interim leader Delcy Rodríguez under pressure from Washington — months after Maduro himself was captured and removed from power. Maduro is now awaiting trial in New York on drug-trafficking charges, with his trial scheduled for June 2027. US authorities had long described Saab as Maduro's principal "bag man" — someone tasked with moving and managing money on another's behalf — and his cooperation agreement means prosecutors could potentially call him to testify against the former Venezuelan leader.

The case lands at a moment of significant flux in US-Venezuela relations. The Trump administration has been actively reshaping its approach to Caracas, with a focus on accessing the country's vast oil reserves. US Attorney Jason Reding Quinones stated that the Saab case "sends a clear message: political connections, wealth and proximity to a corrupt regime will not put anyone beyond the reach of American justice." No sentencing date has yet been set.