A former Venezuelan minister and longtime ally of Nicolás Maduro, Alex Saab, pleaded guilty Tuesday in Miami to conspiring to launder money. Saab admitted to profiting from at least six food and medicine contracts by approximately $195 million in an eight-page factual proffer.
It is the latest turn in a story that reads like a mob movie. U.S. officials called Saab, a Colombian-born businessman, Maduro's "bag man." In 2023, after being captured and extradited to the U.S., Saab received a full pardon from then-President Joe Biden amid a prisoner swap with Venezuela. Maduro welcomed him home as a hero and made him acting industry minister. Now Saab has agreed to cooperate with investigators and may even serve as a state witness against his old boss.
