Alex Saab, ally of Venezuela’s Maduro, pleads not guilty to US charges

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, July 24 (Reuters) – Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman and onetime prominent ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, pleaded not guilty on Friday to U.S. money laundering charges.

• Saab’s lawyers entered the not guilty plea on his behalf at a hearing in Miami federal court, defense lawyer Joseph Schuster told Reuters.

• Venezuela deported Saab in May to face the charges, after U.S. Special Forces captured Maduro in Caracas in January. Maduro has pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges and is due to go on trial starting June 1, 2027.

• Saab previously served as Venezuela’s minister of industry. Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former vice president who is now running the country, said his deportation was “justified by national interests.”

• The Miami U.S. Attorney’s Office accuses Saab of stealing millions of dollars from a welfare plan intended to buy food for Venezuelans, and transferring some of the illicit proceeds to U.S. bank accounts.

• This is not the first time Saab has faced U.S. criminal charges. In 2020, he was detained in Cape Verde and then taken to the U.S.

• Then-President Joe Biden later granted him clemency in 2023 in exchange for the release of Americans detained in Venezuela.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New YorkEditing by Rod Nickel)