Biden pardoned him; Trump's federal prosecutors got him

Maduro's financial fixer Alex Saab pleads guilty to money laundering after Biden pardon let him walk free

Alex Saab, the Colombian businessman who served as Nicolás Maduro's top financial operative, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiracy to launder money in a Miami federal court, nearly three years after the Biden administration pardoned him and sent him back to Venezuela.

Saab, 54, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. Williams. He agreed to forfeit $195 million and cooperate with the Department of Justice as part of the deal. He faces up to 20 years in federal prison, with a sentencing date still to be set.

The plea caps a seven-year saga that spans a 2019 indictment, an arrest in Cape Verde, a presidential pardon, a hero's welcome in Caracas, and a second indictment secured in January 2026, all before federal prosecutors finally got their man back in a courtroom.

The guilty plea is a direct rebuke to the Biden administration's decision to free Saab in December 2023, while he was awaiting trial on charges of laundering $350 million stolen from Venezuela's state coffers.

Biden granted clemency as part of a broader exchange that returned 36 people to Venezuela, including 12 American citizens. The deal freed a man the DOJ had spent years pursuing, and handed Maduro a propaganda victory.

Read about it...