MIAMI (AP) 鈥� Venezuela鈥檚 government said Saturday it deported a close ally of facing several criminal investigations in the U.S. less than three years after the businessman was pardoned by President as part of a prisoner swap.
The decision marks a stark reversal for Alex Saab, who Maduro fought tooth and nail to bring home after his previous international arrest in 2020. Now, the Colombian-born insider, long described by U.S. officials as Maduro鈥檚 鈥渂ag man,鈥� may be asked to testify against his former protector, who is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan after being captured in a shock raid by the U.S. military in January.
The Venezuelan immigration authority in a short statement Saturday did not explicitly say where it had sent Saab but said the decision was made based on several ongoing criminal investigations in the U.S. The statement’s reference to Saab only as a 鈥淐olombian citizen鈥� appeared to be a nod to Venezuelan law, which prohibits the extradition of its nationals. Following his last arrest, Venezuela’s government submitted a copy of what it said was Saab’s Venezuelan passport to a U.S. court, with then Vice President Delcy Rodr铆guez 鈥� now acting President 鈥� claiming he was an 鈥渋nnocent Venezuelan diplomat鈥� who had been illegally 鈥渒idnapped” while on a humanitarian mission to Iran to circumvent the 鈥渋mmoral, imperial blockade” imposed by the United States.
A fortune built from government contracts
Saab, 54, amassed a fortune through Venezuelan government contracts. But he fell out of favor with the country鈥檚 new leadership that took power following Maduro鈥檚 ouster. Since taking over from Maduro on Jan. 3, Rodr铆guez demoted Saab, and stripping him of his role as the main conduit for foreign companies looking to invest in Venezuela. For months conflicting news accounts have circulated that he was imprisoned or under house arrest.
His removal to the United States is likely to deepen divisions inside Rodr铆guez’s fragile ruling coalition of Chavistas, named for the movement started by the late Hugo Ch谩vez.
Rodr铆guez has generated enormous goodwill in Washington and successfully stalled any talk of new elections as she bends to the Trump administration鈥檚 demands to open up its oil and mining industries to American investment.
But those concessions to what Chavistas have long decried as the U.S. 鈥淓mpire鈥� have angered many of her more radical, ideologically driven allies, some of whom, like Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, wield great influence inside the Venezuelan security forces and face criminal charges themselves in the U.S.
US investigation into food corruption
The Associated Press reported in February that federal prosecutors have been digging for months into Saab鈥檚 role in an alleged bribery conspiracy involving Venezuelan government contracts to import food.
The investigation stems from a 2021 case the Justice Department brought against Saab鈥檚 longtime partner, Alvaro Pulido, a former law enforcement official said. That prosecution, out of Miami, centers around the set up by Maduro to provide staples 鈥� rice, corn flour, cooking oil 鈥� to poor Venezuelans struggling to feed themselves at a time of rampant hyperinflation and a crumbling currency.
Saab is identified in the indictment as 鈥淐o-Conspirator 1″ and allegedly helped set up a web of companies used to bribe a pro-Maduro governor who awarded the business partners a contract to import food boxes from Mexico at an inflated price.
Saab was first after his private jet made a refueling stop in Cape Verde en route to Iran on what the Venezuelan government described as a humanitarian mission to circumvent U.S. sanctions.
Rodr铆guez celebrated Saab鈥檚 return in 2023 as a 鈥渞esounding victory” for Venezuela over what she called a U.S.-led campaign of lies and threats. But several Republicans criticized the deal, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, who wrote a letter to then-Attorney General Merrick Garland saying history 鈥渟hould remember (Saab) as a predator of vulnerable people.”
Over the objections of law enforcement, Biden in 2023 agreed to free Saab in exchange for the release of several imprisoned Americans and Venezuela鈥檚 return of known as The deal came as part of an effort by the Biden White House to roll back sanctions and lure Maduro into holding a free and fair presidential election.
Biden’s pardon of Saab was narrowly tailored to a 2019 indictment 鈥� the case number is cited in the pardon itself 鈥� related to a contract he and Pulido allegedly won through bribes to build low-income housing units in Venezuela that were never built.
A possible witness against Maduro
Should Saab be returned to U.S. custody, he could become a valuable witness against Maduro.
The businessman before his first arrest and, in a closed-door court hearing in 2022, his lawyers revealed that the businessman, for years, helped the DEA untangle corruption in Maduro鈥檚 inner circle. As part of that cooperation, he forfeited more than $12 million in illegal proceeds from dirty business dealings.
Saab’s Miami-based attorney, Neil Schuster, declined to comment. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report from Washington.
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This story is part of an investigation that includes the FRONTLINE documentary 鈥淐risis in Venezuela,鈥� which aired Feb. 10, 2026, on PBS. Watch the documentary at , in the and on .
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