Businessman close to Maduro was DEA informant, records show

Newly unsealed court records show that a Colombian businessman linked to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was secretly signed up by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a cooperating source in 2018 and gave agents information about bribes he paid to Venezuelan officials

Venezuela Corruption (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

A businessman linked to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was secretly signed up by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a cooperating source in 2018 and gave agents information about bribes he paid to Venezuelan officials, according to new court records unsealed Wednesday in the closely watched corruption case.

Alex Saab forfeited nearly $10 million of his fortune as part of his cooperation agreement with the U.S., which included several meetings with U.S. law enforcement in his native Colombia and Europe.

However, he was deactivated as a source after failing to meet a May 30, 2019, deadline to surrender himself.

Two months later, he was sanctioned by the Trump administration and indicted in Miami federal court on charges of siphoning millions from state contracts to build affordable housing for Venezuela’s socialist government.

The U.S. has described Saab as the main conduit for corruption in Venezuela, someone who reaped huge windfall profits from dodgy contracts to import food while millions in the South American nation starved. The Maduro government considers him a diplomat who was kidnapped while on a humanitarian mission made more urgent by U.S. sanctions.

Prosecutors nearly a year ago sought to keep secret information about Saab’s meetings with U.S. law enforcement out of concern that Saab’s safety and that of his family, some of whom are still in Venezuela, could be put at risk.

However, Judge Robert Scola ordered documents detailing that interaction unsealed Wednesday, saying that the public’s right to access criminal proceedings outweighs any concerns about Saab’s family.

According to prosecutors, the first meeting with agents from the DEA and Federal Bureau of Investigation took place over two days in August 2016. Other meetings in which Saab was represented by Colombian and U.S. attorneys ensued and in 2018 he was signed up as a cooperating source after stating to agents that he had paid bribes to Venezuelan officials, none of whom were named in the documents unsealed Wednesday.

As part of U.S. criminal investigations it's common for targets to meet with U.S. law enforcement agents to discuss their probe. It's unknown if Maduro or anyone else in the Venezuelan government was aware of Saab's dealings with the U.S. officials

However, as part of his agreement, Saab engaged in what prosecutors described as “proactive cooperation.” He also forfeited into a DEA-controlled account over $9.5 million he and a co-defendant, Alvaro Pulido, obtained from illicit activity tied to the housing contracts.

At the last meeting, in Europe in April 2019, he was warned that if he didn’t surrender by the May deadline he would be sanctioned and criminally charged.

Attorneys for Saab declined to comment.

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