A federal judge in Miami ordered on Tuesday to pay 314 million dollars to three American citizens who were imprisoned and tortured in Venezuela before being released in a prisoner swap in December 2023, according to the news agency AP.
The three plaintiffs are Jerrel Kenemore, Edgar José Marval, and Jason Saad, who remained in captivity for nearly two years under conditions described in the lawsuit as "indescribably harsh."
The judge Darrin P. Gayles issued a default judgment this Tuesday against Nicolás Maduro, Alex Saab, and five other Venezuelan officials, as well as against the Cartel de los Soles, an alleged drug trafficking network that involves high-ranking military officials, for failing to respond to the lawsuit filed in August 2025 in Miami, reported AP.
Delcy Rodríguez, interim president of Venezuela, was initially among the defendants, but was not included in the ruling after her lawyers requested in April that the case be dismissed, citing her immunity as head of state in regard to civil actions in the United States.
The Chavista regime used the three Americans as de facto hostages following the capture and extradition to the United States of the Colombian businessman Alex Saab — a frontman for Maduro's government — in 2021, with the intention of using them in a future diplomatic exchange.
The reports of torture include spinal fractures from blows, electric shocks to the genitals, psychological torture, and theft of savings in the case of Marval, while Kenemore and Saad reported systematic beatings and degrading treatment throughout their detention.
The three were released on December 20, 2023, as part of an agreement between the administration of Joe Biden and Caracas, in which Washington handed over Saab in exchange for 10 American citizens, six of whom were officially designated as "wrongfully detained" by the State Department.
The lawsuit was filed on January 4, 2026, in the Southern District of Florida under the Anti-Terrorism Act, which allows American citizens to seek the seizure of assets belonging to foreign terrorist groups within U.S. jurisdiction.
This ruling follows the precedent set in January 2023, when Judge Federico A. Moreno ordered Maduro and the Cartel de los Soles to pay 153 million dollars to Venezuelan lawyer Carlos Marrón and his family for 878 days of detention and torture, making the federal courts in Miami the primary judicial venue for lawsuits against the Venezuelan regime.
The Saab case took a dramatic turn: the businessman, whose release was the price of the 2023 exchange, was arrested again in Venezuela in February 2026 in a joint operation by SEBIN and the FBI, and delivered to the United States on May 17, where he faces charges of money laundering and conspiracy with a maximum penalty of 20 years.
In parallel, Washington intensified pressure on Caracas and, in August 2025, doubled the reward for information about Maduro from 25 to 50 million dollars, accusing him of leading the Cartel of the Suns. The leader was ultimately captured in Caracas on January 3 of this year, during an operation carried out by elite military troops from the U.S. Army.
The compensation of 314 million dollars represents one of the largest judicial awards granted to victims of the repression by the Venezuelan regime in U.S. courts, although the actual collection will depend on the ability to seize Venezuelan assets under U.S. jurisdiction.
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