Maduro ally pleads guilty to U.S. money laundering, agrees to cooperate

Alex Saab, a former Venezuelan minister and close ally of ousted President Nicolás Maduro, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to a federal money laundering conspiracy in a Miami court and agreed to cooperate with U.S. authorities. The plea deal could make him a key witness in the separate U.S. prosecution of Maduro. Saab, a Colombian-born businessman, admitted before U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams to organizing a system of bribes to Venezuelan officials. This allowed companies he secretly controlled to win government contracts to import food and medicine under Venezuela's CLAP welfare program. The scheme later expanded to include selling oil from state firm PDVSA under false pretenses as U.S. sanctions tightened. As part of the agreement, Saab will forfeit $195 million in criminal proceeds and provide truthful information and testimony to prosecutors. In exchange, the government will recommend a sentence at the low end of the federal guideline range and may seek further reductions if his cooperation is deemed substantial. He faces a maximum of 20 years in prison for the single count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.