Businessman Wanted in Venezuela Bribery Scandal Arrested by US
Theo Associated Press
Alvaro Pulido, a businessman wanted by the US for years on charges of bribing senior Venezuelan officials in exchange for state contracts, has been arrested. The case centers on a bribery and money-laundering network worth more than $2 billion.
A businessman wanted for years by the United States on charges of bribing senior Venezuelan officials in exchange for lucrative state contracts has been arrested, US officials said on Sunday.
Alvaro Pulido, 62, was taken into US custody following an investigation led by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). He is expected to make his first court appearance on Tuesday in Miami.
According to indictments filed in federal court in Miami in 2019 and 2021, Pulido was charged in an investigation involving his longtime associate Alex Saab, an ally of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The DEA and the US State Department had offered rewards of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest.
Prosecutors allege that Pulido and Saab built a network of offshore shell companies to channel bribes to close allies of Maduro, in exchange for more than $2 billion in contracts to import food, medicine and low-cost housing as Venezuela sank into economic crisis.
Prior to these charges, Pulido had a criminal history involving drugs, including a 1997 conviction in Italy under the false name German Enrique Rubio, according to the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida.
Details of Pulido's arrest remain unclear. Venezuelan authorities have yet to comment, reflecting the challenge facing acting President Delcy Rodríguez as she seeks to placate elements within the ruling coalition who want her to push back against the efforts of President Donald Trump's administration to hunt down a long list of Venezuelan figures wanted by the US on serious charges ranging from corruption to drug trafficking.
Pulido, who was born in Colombia, had been arrested in Venezuela in 2023 during a sweeping anti-corruption campaign inside state oil company PDVSA, which was led by Rodríguez when she served as Maduro's vice president. She assumed the Venezuelan presidency after the US military ousted Maduro in January.
The arrest comes after Rodríguez expelled Saab to the United States in May. By September, Saab had pleaded guilty in a related bribery case, agreed to cooperate against Maduro and others, and forfeited $195 million in proceeds from the corruption scheme.
"The defendant's alleged conduct shows a blatant disregard for the Venezuelan people by corrupting government programs meant to provide essential food, medicine and housing, in order to enrich himself and exploit the US financial system," US Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on social media on Sunday. He also asserted that "no amount of time or distance" could stop the Justice Department from "working with federal law enforcement agencies and international partners to pursue these criminals and bring them to justice in US courts."
