According to the 12-page agreement signed with the Department of Justice, Saab, 54 years old, admitted before the federal court of the Southern District of Florida to being guilty of conspiracy to launder money through a scheme of bribes and illegal payments related to the state program Local Supply and Production Committee (CLAP), which took place in 2015, when Maduro was governing the country.
On Wednesday, federal judge Kathleen M. Williams set January 20, 2027, as the sentencing date against Saab. His guilty plea implies a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to 500,000 dollars.
The former Minister of Industry and National Production acknowledged coordinating the scheme with high-ranking Venezuelan government officials and mentioned as alleged accomplices José Gregorio Vielma Mora and Colombians Álvaro Pulido Vargas, Emmanuel Enrique Rubio González, and Carlos Rolando Lizcano. He also referred to two other co-defendants who remain publicly unidentified (co-defendant 1 and co-defendant 3).
Saab committed to fully cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice: he must provide truthful information and testimony, as well as deliver documents and other evidence that may be used in investigations and legal proceedings, without protecting anyone.
The Colombian-born businessman also agreed to hand over US$195 million to the United States and disclose all his assets linked to the crimes.
The agreement allows the U.S. Prosecutor’s Office to request a reduction of his sentence. However, the Department of Justice reserves the right to evaluate the usefulness and quality of his cooperation before determining what specific benefits to recommend.
The agreement does not mention Nicolás Maduro, who has been imprisoned in New York since the United States overthrew and arrested him on January 3 of this year, in a military operation inside Venezuela.
First arrest and pardon
In 2019, the United States announced sanctions against Saab for the first time. He was accused of leading a corruption network that benefited from overpriced contracts without bidding, especially linked to the CLAP program.
A year later, on June 12, 2020, Saab was arrested in Cape Verde. The United States succeeded in having him extradited on October 16, 2021.
Saab was imprisoned in Miami facing money laundering charges. However, he was never tried.
On December 20, 2023, then-President Joe Biden granted him a pardon as part of a prisoner exchange with Maduro’s government.
In exchange for Saab’s release, Venezuela freed 10 U.S. citizens and about 20 Venezuelan political prisoners.
Alex Saab returned to Caracas, where he was received as a hero. In 2024, Maduro appointed him Minister of Industry.
But after Maduro’s fall, interim president Delcy Rodríguez removed Saab from all his positions. Later, on May 16, she handed him over to the United States.
“Saab knows absolutely everything”
For Venezuelan political scientist Luis Nunes, Alex Saab’s guilty plea and his decision to cooperate with U.S. justice mainly respond to an attempt by the businessman to reduce his eventual sentence.
Furthermore, Nunes is sure that Saab possesses privileged information about the irregular operations of Chavismo due to the closeness he maintained for years with Maduro.
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“I am convinced that Saab knows everything, absolutely everything because he was a person of complete trust of Nicolás Maduro”, he told El Comercio.
Nunes specified that Saab will seek to use that information according to his own interests. But he emphasized that he cannot lie or cover for anyone.
The political scientist considered that Saab’s cooperation could have repercussions on various Chavista leaders, including Maduro himself and Delcy Rodríguez, due to the relationships the businessman maintained with members of Venezuelan power.
Nunes went further by describing the network in which, according to his interpretation, the main Chavista leaders operated: “I believe this is a criminal network, this is a criminal organization,” he concluded.
He added that those who had ties with Saab were part of a structure connected for years and dedicated to shady business. “This is a criminal network and an absolutely connected, synchronized organization that for a long time did big business”, he said.
Journalist Roberto Deniz, who through the portal Armando Info investigated Saab for 10 years, told journalist César Miguel Rondón that Saab’s guilty plea represents the collapse of the image built around the Colombian businessman for years, whom Chavismo presented at different times as a businessman, operator to obtain food, and even Venezuelan diplomat.
Regarding the 12-page document, Deniz focused on the reference to a “Government Official 1A”, or government official identified that way, whose backing would have been fundamental to develop the corruption scheme investigated.
The document does not publicly identify that person. However, Deniz categorically stated:“I have no doubt (…) that it is Nicolás Maduro”.
The journalist said that he does not rule out that, if the investigation continues, Maduro could face a criminal charge in Florida related to the CLAP case.
The Trump factor and U.S. interests
Nunes also focuses on the possible difference between the U.S. judicial process and the political priorities of President Donald Trump. According to the analyst, while U.S. justice might be interested in using the information Saab provides, the president would act mainly guided by other interests.
He emphasized that Trump currently prioritizes the economic and strategic interests of the United States in Venezuela. “For Trump, what matters now is Venezuelan oil, the rare metals in the south of the country, and above all the outcome of the midterm elections in November in the United States”, he said.
Therefore, Nunes considered that Trump could value Saab’s information based on its usefulness for those objectives. “He will use whatever suits him from Saab’s statement, and if nothing suits him, he will simply discard it”, he noted.
Regarding Delcy Rodríguez, Nunes said the leader’s position could differ from Maduro’s towards Washington. However, he considered that her political link with the former Venezuelan ruler remains decisive.
“Delcy always, despite having removed her photo and Hugo Chávez’s from public buildings in Venezuela, is loyal to Maduro, and will always have to defend him”, said the political scientist. This is despite versions that point to her as responsible for handing Maduro over to the United States, he added.
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