Overview
- Venezuela’s migration agency said it handed businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of Nicolás Maduro, to U.S. authorities to face long-standing criminal charges.
- Officials in Caracas cited U.S. accusations that include large-scale money laundering, with investigators pursuing financial flows worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
- Saab’s case has spanned years: he was detained in Cape Verde in 2020, extradited to the United States in 2021, and released in a 2023 prisoner swap for Americans held in Venezuela.
- His arrest in Caracas in February during a joint Venezuelan–U.S. operation pointed to closer coordination under acting president Delcy Rodríguez.
- Prosecutors could seek Saab’s cooperation on alleged illicit networks tied to senior officials, with outlets reporting that Maduro was captured earlier this year and now faces charges in New York.