Colombian accused of swindling millions from Venezuela awaits extradition to Miami

A Colombian businessman wanted in Miami on charges of swindling $350 million from the Venezuelan government by paying off officials to secure building contracts for low-income housing is awaiting extradition after his arrest in Cape Verde.

Alex Saab, who has a Venezuelan passport, was arrested Saturday on an Interpol red notice but must first face an extradition hearing in the tiny African nation before he can be transferred to Miami on money-laundering charges, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Monday.

Saab is politically close to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and is expected to fight his extradition to Miami with the backing of Venezuela’s government. Saab is the latest fugitive to be arrested in connection with a series of corruption and money-laundering cases filed in the United States that accuse dozens of current and former Venezuelan officials, business people and lawyers of stealing billions of dollars from Venezuela’s government and its state-run oil company, PDVSA.

Saab’s defense attorney, Maria Dominguez, declined to comment, other than to confirm that her client was arrested in Cape Verde.

While Saab boasts a high profile in South America, he also struck up a discreet relationship with a University of Miami professor who was implicated in an unrelated money-laundering case in South Florida.

Former UM professor Bruce Bagley pleaded guilty earlier this month to two counts of money laundering stemming from helping Saab divert $2.5 million in illicit funds from a food company controlled by the Colombian businessman between 2017 and 2018.

Bagley, who is considered an expert on Latin American crime and money laundering, deposited Saab’s overseas transfers in his consulting company’s bank account and then sent most of the money to an unknown business, according to federal law enforcement sources. Of the total, Bagley kept about $300,000 in fees.

Last year, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Saab for allegedly profiting from a no-bid contract to import food to Venezuela for President Maduro’s socialist government — the very deal in which Bagley consulted Saab, sources told the Miami Herald.

At the same time, Saab was indicted in Miami federal court on charges of conspiring to commit money laundering and multiple related counts tied to a public housing program run by Maduro. (In March, the Venezuelan president was himself charged in an unrelated drug-trafficking conspiracy case linked to U.S.-designated terrorists in Colombia.)

Saab was charged along with Colombian national Alvarado Pulido Vargas, a fugitive, on charges of paying off Venezuelan government officials to obtain contracts to supply building materials for low-income housing projects, according to an indictment filed by federal prosecutors Michael Nadler and John Romano.

Saab and Vargas paid bribes “to obtain improper business advantages” from Venezuelan government officials, the indictment said. In turn, the two men were paid in U.S. dollars from the Venezuelan government’s foreign-currency exchange system “based on false and fraudulent invoices and documents for goods that were never imported into Venezuela,” the indictment said.

Federal prosecutors are seeking to confiscate $350 million of Saab’s assets, and have already seized about $12 million from his U.S. bank accounts over the previous two years.

This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 3:28 PM.