Overview
- Saab, deported Saturday by Venezuelan authorities, appeared in Miami federal court Monday and was charged with a single count of money laundering tied to a bribery scheme.
- Venezuela’s migration agency said it expelled the “Colombian citizen” due to U.S. criminal investigations, using deportation to navigate a constitutional ban on extraditing Venezuelan nationals.
- U.S. prosecutors link Saab to Venezuela’s CLAP food‑box program, alleging he and partner Álvaro Pulido used shell companies and bribes to win inflated import contracts.
- His February arrest in Caracas, described by a U.S. official as a joint operation, and his transfer reflect deepening coordination with acting president Delcy Rodríguez’s interim government.
- Saab was first detained in Cape Verde in 2020, extradited to the U.S., and later freed in a 2023 prisoner swap, and he could now be asked for information relevant to U.S. cases against Nicolás Maduro.