A scandal-plagued billionaire tycoon close to Venezuela’s deposed president, Nicolás Maduro, was extradited to the United States on Saturday, Venezuela’s government said.
The extradition of Alex Saab, a Colombian-born businessman whom U.S. prosecutors have accused of enriching himself through lucrative government contracts, marks an escalation of a purge by Venezuela’s new acting president, Delcy Rodríguez. She is targeting figures who helped keep Mr. Maduro in power for more than a decade.
Ms. Rodríguez, who was Mr. Maduro’s vice president and rose to power with the Trump administration’s blessing after U.S. forces captured Mr. Maduro in January, fired Mr. Saab from his post as industry minister shortly after Mr. Maduro was seized and taken to the United States.
Her government detained Mr. Saab in early February at the Trump administration’s request, underscoring Washington’s new sway over Venezuela.
U.S. prosecutors have claimed that Mr. Saab controls some of Mr. Maduro’s funds, raising speculation that they could use his extradition to strengthen their case against Mr. Maduro. The deposed leader is currently being held in New York, where he has been charged with conspiracies to commit narco-terrorism and import cocaine, along with other counts.
Lawyers representing Mr. Saab in Venezuela could not be reached immediately for comment.
This is the second time that Mr. Saab, 54, has landed in a U.S. prison. At the request of the Biden administration, he was detained in 2021 in the West African nation of Cape Verde while traveling on business to Iran, a close ally of Mr. Maduro’s government.
Mr. Saab was then extradited to the United States and spent nearly two years in prison on money-laundering charges. In 2023, Mr. Biden pardoned Mr. Saab, who received a hero’s welcome from Mr. Maduro on his return to Venezuela in a prisoner swap that included 10 Americans.
U.S. prosecutors have accused Mr. Saab of being involved in a scheme in which he and others used shell companies and no-bid contracts to siphon off government money intended to ease a starvation crisis, when the economy crashed a decade ago during Mr. Maduro’s rule.
Mr. Saab, born in Colombia, moved to Venezuela and became a citizen of both countries. That was thought to have complicated his extradition, since Venezuela’s constitution prohibits the extradition of citizens.
Still, legal experts have argued that a provision in a 1922 treaty between the United States and Venezuela might allow exceptions. Speculation also quickly emerged in Venezuela on Saturday that Mr. Saab may have been stripped of his Venezuelan citizenship to allow the extradition to proceed.
Venezuela’s government limited its declarations on the matter to saying that Mr. Saab was a “Colombian citizen who is implicated in committing several crimes in the United States of America, a fact that is widely known, notorious, and heavily documented in the media.”
The Venezuelan authorities did not respond to requests for further comment.
Simon Romero is a Times correspondent covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. He is based in Mexico City.
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