MIAMI (AP) — A close ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was charged in federal court in Miami on Monday with bribing top officials to profit from lucrative government contracts.Alex Saab made his initial court appearance after being deported over the weekend by acting President Delcy Rodríguez as part of a purge of insider businessmen who are believed to have enriched themselves through corrupt dealings with Maduro.Shackled and wearing a prison uniform, Saab answered “Yes, ma’am,” in English after being told he was charged with a single count of money laundering tied to an unspecified bribery scheme. It was unsealed at the hearing but not yet publicly available.Saab, 54, was previously charged during the first Trump administration in 2019 and then arrested during a refueling 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 and the return of a fugitive foreign defense contractor. The deal, part of a failed effort by the Biden White House to lure Maduro into holding a free presidential election, was harshly criticized by Republicans and federal law enforcement officials, who began investigating Saab for other alleged crimes not covered by the narrowly tailored pardon.
