Álvaro Pulido: US detains man accused in multi-billion Venezuelan cash laundering scheme

A Colombian man wished for allegedly laundering cash that had been illegally syphoned off a Venezuelan authorities welfare plan has been detained within the United States.

The US Department of Justice mentioned Álvaro Pulido, 62, had been arrested throughout a Homeland Security Task Force operation on Sunday, however didn’t present additional particulars as to how he ended up in US custody.

Pulido had been in jail in Venezuela since March 2023 accused of diverting earnings from the state-run oil firm PDVSA.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and State Department had been providing a reward of $10m (£7.5m) for data resulting in his arrest.

He is because of seem in court docket on Tuesday, in accordance with an announcement launched by the US Attorney’s Office.

Pulido’s arrest comes simply two months after Alex Saab, one other Colombian businessman with shut ties to the Venezuelan authorities, pleaded responsible to cash laundering expenses in a US court docket.

The US State Attorney’s Office mentioned that Pulido had been charged in two separate federal indictments “involving the alleged laundering of greater than $2bn (£1.5bn) in reference to Venezuelan authorities bribery schemes”.

US prosecutors say Pulido, together with 4 different co-defendants, bribed Venezuelan authorities officers to safe contracts to offer poor Venezuelans with meals and medication.

They accuse Pulido of wildly overcharging the Venezuelan authorities and laundering the earnings by means of financial institution accounts overseas, together with within the US.

They additionally allege that Pulido labored with Alex Saab to launder $350m from a separate bribery scheme involving Venezuela’s forex change system utilizing financial institution accounts in Florida.

Until just lately, Saab was a robust determine within the Venezuelan authorities with shut ties to the then-leader, Nicolás Maduro, who named him minister of business in 2024.

However, after Maduro was seized by US forces in a raid on Caracas in January and brought to New York to face trial on drug-trafficking expenses, Saab’s destiny shortly modified.

Less than two weeks after Maduro was seized, the brand new US-backed interim authorities of Venezuela sacked Saab from his publish as minister, and in May it extradited him to the US.

Last month, Saab pleaded responsible to cash laundering expenses.