In brief
A 62‑year‑old Colombian named Álvaro Pulido was detained in the United States after federal charges of laundering over $2 bn linked to a Venezuelan government bribery scheme. Pulido, who had been jailed in Venezuela since March 2023 for diverting oil‑company profits, faces a complex indictment that implicates him and four co‑defendants in overcharging the state for food and medicine contracts. His arrest follows the earlier guilty plea of Alex Saab, a fellow Venezuelan associate, who conspired to launder $350m from a separate scheme. Both cases show US efforts to crack down on elite officials with ties to the Maduro regime, amid a broader purge of Venezuelan officials. Pulido is set to appear in federal court this Tuesday.
A Colombian man wanted for allegedly laundering money that had been illegally siphoned off a Venezuelan government welfare plan has been detained in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Álvaro Pulido, 62, was arrested during a Homeland Security Task Force operation on Sunday, but did not provide further details on how he ended up in U.S. custody.
Pulido had been in jail in Venezuela since March 2023 accused of diverting profits from the state‑run oil company PDVSA.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and State Department had offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
He is due to appear in court on Tuesday, according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Pulido’s arrest comes just two months after Alex Saab, another Colombian businessman with close ties to the Venezuelan government, pleaded guilty to money‑laundering charges in a U.S. court.
The U.S. State Attorney’s Office said that Pulido was charged in two separate federal indictments “involving the alleged laundering of more than $2 bn in connection with Venezuelan government bribery schemes”.
Prosecutors say Pulido, along with four other co‑defendants, bribed Venezuelan officials to secure contracts to provide poor Venezuelans with food and medicine.
They accuse Pulido of wildly overcharging the Venezuelan government and laundering the profits through bank accounts abroad, including in the United States.
They also allege that Pulido worked with Alex Saab to launder $350 million from a separate bribery scheme involving Venezuela’s currency‑exchange system using bank accounts in Florida.
Until recently, Saab was a powerful figure in the Venezuelan government with close ties to former leader Nicolás Maduro, who named him Minister of Industry in 2024.
Less than two weeks after Maduro was seized by U.S. forces in a raid on Caracas in January and taken to New York to stand trial on drug‑trafficking charges, the new U.S.‑backed interim government of Venezuela sacked Saab from his post as minister, and in May extradited him to the U.S.
Last month, Saab pleaded guilty to money‑laundering charges.
