A key figure linked to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, often referred to as his “bag man,” has been extradited to the United States to face legal proceedings, despite having received a presidential pardon from President Joe Biden in 2023.
Alex Saab, aged 54 and a prominent ally of Maduro, was reportedly deported following his arrest in February in Venezuela, as confirmed by Venezuela’s migration authorities.
Saab’s pardon was part of a prisoner exchange deal, where he was released in return for Americans detained in Venezuela.
According to sources cited by local media outlet Lapatilla, Saab is set to be tried in Florida’s Southern District on allegations of money laundering, corruption, and evading sanctions.
The extradition operation was supported by the State Department, the Department of Justice, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, as reported by the outlet.
Interim President Delcy Rodriguez formalized the deportation order, which was carried out by the Administrative Service for Identification, Migration, and Foreigners (SAIME).
The agency referred to Saab in their statement as a ‘Colombian citizen.’ He is a Colombian national but holds Venezuelan citizenship as well. Venezuelan law prohibits the extradition of its nationals.
The Venezuelan government said he has been ‘implicated in committing several crimes in the United States of America, a fact that is widely known, notorious, and heavily documented in the media.’
Maduro ally Alex Saab, pictured above, has been deported to the US to face judicial proceedings. He’s pictured above with Maduro in 2024
Saab is a Colombian national and a close ally of Maduro. He was arrested in Venezeula in February
Saab, pictured above, was pardoned and released from US custody in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange
The decision marks the latest development in US relations with Venezeula under Rodriguez’s administration.
Rodriguez has developed a relationship with the Trump administration since Maduro’s capture in January and has bent to his oil demands. Saab was detained a month later at the US’s request.
Saab amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts, but he fell out of favor with the country´s new leadership that took power following Maduro´s ouster.
Since taking over for Maduro, Rodríguez demoted Saab, firing him from her Cabinet and stripping him of his role as the main conduit for foreign companies looking to invest in Venezuela.
For months, conflicting news accounts have circulated that he was imprisoned or under house arrest.
His removal to the United States is likely to deepen divisions within Rodríguez’s fragile ruling coalition of Chavistas, named after the movement founded by the late Hugo Chávez.
The Associated Press reported in February that federal prosecutors have been digging for months into Saab´s role in an alleged bribery conspiracy involving Venezuelan government contracts to import food.
The investigation stems from a 2021 case the Justice Department brought against Saab´s longtime partner, Alvaro Pulido, a former law enforcement official said.
Maduor was captured by US forces in January. He is seen above in a photo after he was apprehended on USS Iwo Jima
The extradition marks Delcy Rodriguez’s latest move to attempt a closer relationship with the Trump administration. She’s pictured above speaking in April
That prosecution, out of Miami, centers around the so-called CLAP program set up by Maduro to provide staples – rice, corn flour, cooking oil – to poor Venezuelans struggling to feed themselves at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency.
Saab is identified in the indictment as ‘Co-Conspirator 1’ and allegedly helped set up a web of companies used to bribe a pro-Maduro governor who awarded the business partners a contract to import food boxes from Mexico at an inflated price.
Hr was first arrested in 2020 after his private jet made a refueling stop in Cape Verde en route to Iran on what the Venezuelan government described as a humanitarian mission to circumvent US sanctions.
Rodríguez celebrated Saab´s return in 2023 as a ‘resounding victory’ for Venezuela over what she called a US-led campaign of lies and threats.
But several Republicans criticized the deal, including Senator Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, who wrote a letter to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland saying history ‘should remember (Saab) as a predator of vulnerable people.’
Over the objections of law enforcement, Biden agreed to free Saab in exchange for the release of several imprisoned Americans and Venezuela´s return of a fugitive foreign defense contractor known as ‘Fat Leonard.’
The deal came as part of an effort by the Biden White House to roll back sanctions and lure Maduro into holding a free and fair presidential election.
Saab was released to Venezeula in a prisoner swap orchestrated by the Biden administration
Saab has been accused of an alleged bribery conspiracy involving government contracts. He is a longtime ally to Maduro. The two are pictured above together in 2024
Biden’s pardon of Saab was narrowly tailored to a 2019 indictment – the case number is cited in the pardon itself – related to a contract he and Pulido allegedly won through bribes to build low-income housing units in Venezuela that were never built.
Should Saab be returned to US custody, he could become a valuable witness against Maduro.
The businessman secretly met with the Drug Enforcement Administration before his first arrest and, in a closed-door court hearing in 2022, his lawyers revealed that the businessman, for years, helped the DEA untangle corruption in Maduro´s inner circle.
As part of that cooperation, he forfeited more than $12 million in illegal proceeds from dirty business dealings.
Saab’s Miami-based attorney, Neil Schuster, declined to comment when approached by the Associated Press. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.