Maduro Ally Alex Saab Set to Plead Guilty Tuesday in Miami Money Laundering Case

Alex Saab is scheduled to appear before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams in Miami on Tuesday for a change-of-plea hearing, according to court records cited by the Associated Press. The hearing is set for 11 a.m., according to ArcaMax, which also reported that the court has already canceled Saab's upcoming jury trial and a scheduled Zoom calendar call.

Saab is charged with a single count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. He pleaded not guilty to the charge in July, according to Anadolu Agency and the AP. Sources differ slightly on his age, with some reporting he is 54 and ArcaMax reporting he is 55.

The details of any plea agreement have not been made public. Court records list the docket entry for Tuesday's proceeding as "USA v. SEALED" rather than under Saab's name, ArcaMax reported. Saab's attorney, Neil Schuster, declined to comment to multiple outlets, including Euronews and the AP.

What Prosecutors Allege

According to ArcaMax's review of the indictment, prosecutors say Saab and his associates launched the conspiracy around October 2015 by bribing Venezuelan officials to win contracts tied to the CLAP program, the Comité Local de Abastecimiento y Producción, which distributed subsidized rice, corn flour and cooking oil to Venezuelans during a period of hyperinflation and currency collapse.

Prosecutors allege the group used shell companies, fabricated invoices and falsified shipping records to divert hundreds of millions of dollars meant to buy food for the country's poor, with some proceeds allegedly routed through U.S. bank accounts, according to ArcaMax. The AP reported the scheme also involved skimming from contracts to import food from Colombia and Mexico. ArcaMax noted the network later expanded into oil trading as U.S. sanctions squeezed Venezuela's main source of revenue.

A Case With a Long, Strange History

Saab was first charged in 2019 during the first Trump administration, then arrested in 2020 during a refueling stop in Cape Verde while, according to the Venezuelan government, traveling on a humanitarian mission to Iran. He was extradited to Miami in 2021.

In December 2023, President Joe Biden pardoned Saab as part of a prisoner exchange that secured the release of several detained Americans in Venezuela, according to Euronews and the AP. Supporters of that deal, including officials in the Biden administration, framed it as part of a broader effort to pressure Maduro toward holding a free presidential election, and as a trade that prioritized getting American citizens out of Venezuelan custody. Republicans and federal law enforcement officials criticized the pardon harshly at the time, and investigators moved quickly to build a new case against Saab covering conduct not shielded by that narrow pardon, the AP reported.

Saab was deported back to the United States on May 16 by Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez under pressure from Washington, according to ArcaMax, making his initial appearance in Miami federal court two days later. Rodriguez, who as Maduro's vice president once called Saab an "innocent Venezuelan diplomat" who had been illegally "kidnapped" by the U.S., later fired him from her Cabinet and stripped him of his role brokering foreign investment in Venezuela, according to the AP.

The Maduro Connection

Maduro was captured in a U.S. military raid in January and is now awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan, the AP reported. U.S. officials have long described Saab as Maduro's "bag man," and multiple outlets, including Anadolu Agency and the AP, reported that prosecutors could seek Saab's cooperation as a witness against the former Venezuelan leader.

The Trump administration is overhauling U.S.-Venezuela relations with an eye on the country's oil reserves. The AP reported that Trump this month announced a deal with Venezuelan oil entrepreneur Alejandro Betancourt, calling it the "BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY," under which the U.S. government would take a stake and gain access to at-cost crude shipments from fields with a potential yield of 65 billion barrels.

It remains unclear what Saab agreed to give prosecutors in exchange for a plea, whether that includes testimony in Maduro's Manhattan drug case, and when a sentencing date will be set.