Alex Saab, a former high-ranking Venezuelan official accused in a U.S. case of siphoning off money from big government contracts, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of money laundering and agreed to cooperate with investigators.
The plea in a federal court in Miami may prove a blow to former President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, Mr. Saab’s longtime ally, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in New York. Mr. Maduro was captured by the U.S. military earlier this year.
Federal prosecutors claim that Mr. Saab at one point controlled some of Mr. Maduro’s funds, raising speculation that they could use his plea to strengthen their case against Mr. Maduro.
On Tuesday, Judge Kathleen Williams read the key points of the 12-page agreement that led to Mr. Saab’s guilty plea. In it, he agreed to be “debriefed” by U.S. agents on his role in a sophisticated money laundering scheme. He also agreed to forfeit $195 million in cash and to help the government identify and recuperate undisclosed properties.
In return for the plea, the government recommended that Judge Williams impose a reduced sentence. The charge carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Four other people accused of conspiring with Mr. Saab were also indicted, but their names have not been made public.
Mr. Saab’s lawyers declined to comment.
Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said in a statement: “This case sends a clear message: political connections, wealth and proximity to a corrupt regime will not put anyone beyond the reach of American justice.”
Mr. Saab’s winding legal saga has been a source of international and diplomatic intrigue for years. United States officials previously accused Mr. Saab, a wealthy businessman born in Colombia, of helping top Venezuelan officials siphon off large sums of money through contracts meant to help the nation’s poor.
Venezuela’s acting president, Delcy Rodríguez, detained and extradited him shortly after his most recent indictment, underscoring her increasingly close ties to the Trump administration. She had fired Mr. Saab from his post as industry minister soon after Mr. Maduro was seized by American special forces in January. Ms. Rodríguez was the country’s vice president under Mr. Maduro.
This is Mr. Saab’s second time in American custody.
In 2021, he was extradited to the United States on money laundering charges, serving nearly two years in a federal detention center in Florida before being pardoned by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Mr. Saab was returned to Venezuela as part of a prisoner swap that included 10 Americans.
According to the latest indictment, Mr. Saab is accused of using American banks to launder millions of dollars pilfered from a Venezuelan food program meant to aid the nation’s poor. That program was financed with Venezuelan oil money.
In another twist, a lawyer who once represented Mr. Saab, Abelardo De La Espriella, was elected president of Colombia this year. Mr. De La Espriella, who is backed by the Trump administration, came under scrutiny years ago by U.S. law enforcement officials over the movement of Mr. Saab’s funds into the American financial system.
Mr. De La Espriella has said that he cut ties with Mr. Saab in 2019, after federal prosecutors first indicted Mr. Saab.
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