Venezuela Deports Alex Saab to the U.S. in Money-Laundering Case

Overview

• Alex Saab, deported Saturday according to Venezuela’s migration service, faces U.S. charges that he laundered about $350 million through contracts linked to CLAP, a subsidized food program.
• Venezuelan authorities called the move a deportation even though sending a suspect to face charges abroad resembles extradition, which the country’s constitution forbids.
• He was arrested in Caracas in February in a joint operation by Venezuelan and U.S. authorities after Nicolás Maduro’s capture in January.
• Saab was detained in Cabo Verde in 2020 and extradited to the U.S. in 2021, then returned to Venezuela in 2023 in a prisoner swap, was named industry minister, and was later removed by interim president Delcy Rodríguez.
• Reporting also ties him to an Italian money‑laundering conviction connected to the purchase of a luxury apartment in Rome.