Maduro Ally Charged in Miami in Venezuela Bribery Case After Deportation to U.S.

NBC Miami ^ | 5/18/26 | Joshua Goodman

[nickcarraway]

Alex Saab made his initial court appearance after being deported over the weekend by acting President Delcy Rodríguez as part of a purge of insider businessmen who are believed to have enriched themselves through corrupt dealings with Maduro.

A close ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was charged in federal court in Miami on Monday with bribing top officials to profit from lucrative government contracts.

Alex Saab made his initial court appearance after being deported over the weekend by acting President Delcy Rodríguez as part of a purge of insider businessmen who are believed to have enriched themselves through corrupt dealings with Maduro.

Shackled and wearing a prison uniform, Saab answered “Yes, ma'am," in English after being told he was charged with a single count of money laundering tied to an unspecified bribery scheme. It was unsealed at the hearing but not yet publicly available. Saab, 54, was previously charged during the first Trump administration in 2019 and then arrested during a refueling stop in Cape Verde on what the Venezuelan government described as a high-level humanitarian mission to Iran.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; US: Florida
KEYWORDS: bribery; crime; florida; maduro; venezuela

[frank ballenger]

But remember what a foreign criminal suspect said once:
“I love your country’s justice system here. Everything always favors the criminals.”

[Texas Eagle]

Shoot. I was hoping it was Sean Penn.

[nickcarraway]

I thought Penn was friends with Hugo Chavez?