Venezuelan official Alex Saab, a former businessman and close ally of captured former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, was arrested in the Latin American country on Wednesday as part of a joint operation between the U.S. and Venezuela, according to a U.S. law enforcement official.
Saab, 54, who had previously been held in the U.S., is expected to be extradited to the U.S. in the coming days, the U.S. official told Reuters.
A lawyer for Saab, Luigi Giuliano, was cited in the Colombian newspaper El Espectador later on Wednesday, denying the arrest as ‘fake news.’ Journalists aligned with Venezuela’s government also made social media posts denying that Saab had been arrested.
Giuliano told Venezuelan news site TalCual that Saab may make an appearance to refute the arrest allegations himself but was consulting with the government about what had happened.
Venezuela’s top lawmaker, Jorge Rodríguez, did not confirm or deny the reports during a press conference, saying he had no information concerning the possible arrest.
This comes after the U.S. operation to attack Venezuela and arrest Maduro, and the Trump administration’s subsequent seizing of oil tankers from the country.
Saab’s arrest would suggest a new level of collaboration between U.S. and Venezuelan authorities under the government of interim President Delcy Rodríguez, Maduro’s former deputy, who currently controls Venezuela’s law enforcement agencies and actions.
The U.S. official highlighted the significance of Rodriguez’s cooperation in the joint operation.
Raul Gorrin, the head of Venezuela’s Globovision TV network, was also arrested in the operation, the official said.
Saab, who was born in Colombia, was previously detained in the African nation of Cape Verde in 2020 and held in the U.S. for more than three years on bribery charges. He was eventually granted clemency in exchange for the release of Americans held in Venezuela.
Before he was granted clemency, U.S. officials had charged Saab with taking around $350 million out of Venezuela through the U.S. as part of a bribery scheme connected to Venezuela’s state-controlled exchange rate.
Saab denied the allegations and appealed to have the charges dismissed on grounds of diplomatic immunity. An appeals court had not ruled on Saab’s appeal by the time the prisoner swap went through.
When he returned to Venezuela at the end of 2023, Maduro praised Saab’s loyalty to the country’s socialist revolution and called him a national hero.
Maduro later appointed Saab as industry minister, a position he held until last month, when he was dismissed by Rodriguez following the arrest of the country’s former leader.
Reuters contributed to this report.