Alex Saab, the Colombian businessman who served as the main financial operator for the Chavista regime and later as a minister of Venezuela, pleaded not guilty on Friday to federal charges of money laundering and other financial crimes in a Miami court, formally initiating the latest criminal case against him in the United States.
The statement was presented by his attorneys during a brief hearing before federal judge Lauren F. Louis in the Southern District of Florida. Saab, 54 years old, did not appear in person. His defense requested that the case be resolved by a jury, and the judge did not set a date for the trial nor addressed the possibility of bail.
Federal prosecutors are accusing Saab of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments, money laundering, and concealing the origins of illicit funds linked to the Venezuelan government. According to the Department of Justice, the scheme reportedly operated between October 2015 and at least January 2026, and involved the payment of bribes to obtain contracts from the CLAP program — the Venezuelan state system for distributing subsidized food — the use of shell companies, fraudulent invoices, and falsified shipping records. Authorities estimate that the scheme moved approximately 350 million dollars through the U.S. financial system. The charge of conspiracy to launder money carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
The hearing on Friday was Saab's second appearance before a federal court in Miami in less than three months. The first took place on May 18, two days after his deportation from Venezuela to the United States on May 16. Upon arriving in Miami, Saab was taken to the Federal Detention Center after landing at the Opa-locka executive airport, escorted by federal agents, including members of the DEA.
His return to U.S. custody was the result of a chain of events that began on February 4, 2026, when Saab was arrested in Venezuela in a joint operation between the SEBIN and the FBI. The Venezuelan government led by Delcy Rodríguez deported him months later, arguing that Saab is a Colombian citizen and had allegedly used fraudulent documents to obtain Venezuelan nationality.
Saab's judicial trajectory is extensive. He was arrested in Cabo Verde in June 2020 during a technical stop of his plane and extradited to the United States in October 2021. He remained detained in Miami for over two years until, in December 2023, then-President Joe Biden included him in a prisoner swap with Venezuela in exchange for the release of 10 American citizens. He returned to Caracas, where Maduro welcomed him as a hero and appointed him to his cabinet as Minister of Industries and National Production. In March 2024, a federal court in Miami dismissed all prior charges against him.
That chapter closed with Maduro's capture by U.S. forces on January 3, 2026, and the collapse of his government. U.S. researchers have described Saab as a key figure in the networks used to secure imports, finance government programs, and mobilize international resources during the years of sanctions imposed by Washington.
This process in Miami is independent of the drug trafficking case against Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores in a federal court in New York, where the judge has set June 1, 2027 as the trial start date.
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