Alex Saab Pleads Guilty to Money Laundering Tied to Bribery and Food and Medicine Contracts

Alex Nain Saab Morán, a 54-year-old Colombian businessman and former industry minister under the Venezuelan Chávez regime, has admitted guilt in a Miami federal court for his role in a money laundering conspiracy. This scheme involved bribery and fraud that plundered Venezuela's food and medicine distribution program, CLAP, over nearly a decade.

The U.S. Department of Justice reported that his guilty plea was acknowledged by U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams in Florida's Southern District. Saab is facing a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years, though his sentencing date has yet to be scheduled.

Court documents reveal that Saab orchestrated a bribery network with Venezuelan public officials, enabling entities secretly controlled by conspirators to secure government contracts through CLAP—a program aimed at providing subsidized food and medicine boxes to the population. However, these contracts were not fully executed. Instead, those involved utilized shell companies, fake invoices, and fraudulent shipping records to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars.

Saab also conceded to using offshore shell companies to move illicit profits globally, including through the U.S. financial system. As part of his plea deal, he agreed to forfeit $195 million in criminal proceeds and to cooperate with federal prosecutors in ongoing investigations involving four unidentified co-conspirators.

Jason A. Reding Quiñones, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, highlighted the case's timeline: "In December 2023, President Biden granted clemency to Alex Saab while he awaited trial in this district, and Saab was released from federal custody and returned to Venezuela. But that was not the end of the story. Our office built a new criminal case, secured a new indictment in January 2026, and, working with our federal and international partners, brought Saab back before a federal court in Miami on May 18."

FBI Director Kash Patel was emphatic: "Criminals like Alex Saab, who robbed the Venezuelan people and sought to exploit and misuse U.S. financial institutions, will be held accountable by this FBI."

Saab's legal saga is extensive. Initially charged in July 2019 by prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida for money laundering tied to CLAP, amounting to about $350 million, he was arrested in Cape Verde in June 2020 during a plane stopover and extradited to the U.S. in October 2021. Two years later, President Biden granted him executive clemency as part of a prisoner swap with Venezuela, allowing Saab to return to Caracas in December 2023.

The situation drastically shifted with the capture of Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces in January 2026. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez dismissed Saab from his duties that same month and later authorized his deportation to the United States on May 16, 2026. Saab appeared in Miami court two days later under a new indictment, initially pleading not guilty in July, before reversing his plea this Tuesday.

This fresh indictment is part of the Homeland Security Task Force, an initiative launched by President Trump via executive order to dismantle transnational criminal networks. The DEA, FBI, and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), all based in Miami, are conducting the investigation.

DEA Administrator Terry Cole described the plea agreement as "a significant disruption to the illicit financial networks supporting narco-terrorism and political corruption," and warned that pressure on those who operated alongside the Chávez regime will not relent.