In brief
U.S. investigators have detained Colombian businessman Álvaro Pulido, who is alleged to have laundered more than $2 billion in connection with Venezuelan government bribery. Pulido, jailed in Venezuela since March 2023 for diverting oil‑company profits, faced a $10 million reward from the DEA and State Department. He is charged under two federal indictments that accuse him, along with other co‑defendants, of overcharging the state and funneling profits through U.S. banks. His arrest follows Alex Saab’s guilty plea and reflects a broader U.S. effort to dismantle corruption networks involving Venezuela’s leaders.
U.S. authorities have detained 62‑year‑old Colombian businessman Álvaro Pulido, who is alleged to have laundered more than $2 billion from a Venezuelan government bribery scheme.
Pulido had been in jail in Venezuela since March 2023 after charges that he siphoned profits from the state‑run oil company PDVSA. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the State Department had offered a $10 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
The indictment states Pulido, along with four co‑defendants, bribed Venezuelan officials to secure contracts to provide food and medicine to poor Venezuelans, wildly overcharged the government, and laundered the surplus through bank accounts abroad, including in the United States.
Prosecutors say Pulido also worked with Colombian businessman Alex Saab to launder $350 million from a separate bribery scheme involving Venezuela’s currency exchange system, with funds moving through Florida banks.
Saab, a former minister of industry under President Nicolás Maduro, pleaded guilty to money‑laundering charges in a U.S. court last month. After Maduro was seized by U.S. forces in a raid on Caracas and extradited to New York in January, the interim government quickly removed Saab from office and extradited him to the U.S. in May.
The arrest of Pulido underscores the U.S. crackdown on corruption networks that span Venezuela, Colombia, and the United States, and signals a broader effort to enforce international financial transparency rules.
Maduro was seized by U.S. forces in a raid on Caracas and later faced drug‑trafficking charges in New York.
