The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration secretly signed up a businessman who was described as Venezuela’s main conduit for corruption as a source in 2018. This revealed information about the bribes he paid top officials of President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government.
New records from a closely watched criminal case reveal that Alex Saab forfeited millions in illegal proceeds he claimed he earned from corrupt state contracts as part of his multiyear cooperation. According to prosecutors, his contact with U.S. authorities ended abruptly when he missed the May 30, 2019, deadline to surrender or face criminal charges.
This shocking revelation was revealed after a heated hearing in Miami federal court Wednesday. An attorney for Saab claimed that Maduro’s Venezuelan government could jail or physically harm his family if he made his interactions with U.S. authorities public.
In the hearing, Neil Schuster, attorney for the plaintiff, stated that “they are basically under the control of the government.” Judge Robert Scola later released a transcript. “If the Venezuelan government discovers the extent of what this person has provided, I have no doubt there will be retaliation towards his wife and children.”
U.S. officials presented Saab to Maduro as a close associate. He was someone who made huge profits from dodgy import contracts while South American nations were starving. Maduro’s government regards him as a diplomat who was abducted during a stop for fueling while on a humanitarian mission towards Iran, made more urgent due to U.S. sanctions.
Gerard Reyes, a Miami-based author, said that Saab was “playing with fire” and had written a book about him, which also includes his past dealings, with U.S. officials. He believed he could be a snitch for prosecution while pretending he was being persecuted under Yankee imperialism without any consequences. He was ultimately burned.
In November, the Associated Press reported that Saab had met with U.S. authorities in his native Colombia and Europe. He wired three payments to a DEA account that contained nearly $10 million of corruption-related funds as part of his cooperation.
After failing to turn over as agreed in meetings, he was removed from the list of sources. He was indicted by the Trump administration in Miami federal court for siphoning millions of state contracts in order to build affordable housing in Venezuela two months later.
Saab was shackled in a beige jumpsuit and attended Wednesday’s hearing. As the sides argued over whether to make public documents filed nearly a decade ago by prosecutors, Saab, who was fighting extradition from Cape Verde for his past cooperation, was briefly barred from entering the courtroom.
Schuster requested that Saab be released on bond after he had provided four years of assistance for the U.S. government. This cooperation was denied by other Saab attorneys.
Judge Scola rejected the idea immediately, citing Saab’s previous attempts to avoid extradition. According to the transcript of closed proceedings,
Scola stated, “So you are going have all the evidence that this guy was a flight risk, involved in this humongous offense, he tried it, and he fought extradition. And the judge inexplicably gives him a bond?”
One year ago, U.S. authorities tried to hide meetings between the prosecution and U.S. law enforcement because of concerns for Saab’s safety as well as that of his family members who are still in Venezuela.
They downplayed the dangers, saying that Saab’s legal staff hadn’t accepted their offer to help his family leave Venezuela. Scola agreed and said that the public’s rights to access criminal proceedings far outweigh any concern about his safety.
In a similar case, a University of Miami professor was used as an intermediary to Saab’s payments to U.S. lawyers.
Another Saab lawyer, who is trying to get Saab’s status in Venezuela as a diplomat recognized by U.S. Court of Appeals, Atlanta, vehemently denied claims that the businessman had been cooperating U.S. investigators.
David Rivkin, a New Yorker, was absent from court Wednesday. He stated that Saab’s meetings in the United States with U.S. officials were solely to clear his name. They were done with the “full knowledge” and support of Maduro’s government. The Department of Justice requested the document be released. He claimed that it was only an attempt to harm Venezuela’s interest and its relationship with Saab. It also illustrates the weaknesses of the government’s case.
Rivkin stated in a statement that Alex Saab is still a loyal citizen of Venezuela and a diplomat of Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. He will not do anything to harm the country’s interests and those who have given him so much.
Camilla Fabri, Saab’s Italian-born wife, claimed on social media that the U.S. was lying like it did with Russia or Iraq and that her husband would not cause any harm to Venezuela.
It is common for U.S. criminal investigation targets to meet with U.S. police agents in order to obtain information and to explore the possibility of a plea deal.
The documents, however, were revealed Wednesday and described Saab’s cooperation in a more proactive and extensive way than was previously believed.
Prosecutors claim that the first meeting with agents from the DEA/Federal Bureau of Investigation was held in Bogota, Colombia’s capital, in August 2016. After stating that he had received bribes from Venezuelan officials, he was then signed up as a cooperating supply.
He was warned at the April 2019 meeting in Europe that if he did not surrender by May deadline, he would face criminal prosecution. This happened in July 2019.
