Documents reveal Venezuelan’s work with DEA

MIAMI — A businessman accused of corruption in Venezuela was secretly signed up by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as a source in 2018, revealing information about bribes he paid to top officials in President Nicolas Maduro’s socialist government.

As part of his multiyear cooperation, Alex Saab also forfeited millions of dollars in illegal proceeds he admitted to earning from corrupt state contracts, new records in a criminal case show. But his contact with U.S. law enforcement ended abruptly after he missed a May 30, 2019 deadline to surrender to or face criminal charges, according to prosecutors.

The revelation was made public after a closed hearing Wednesday in Miami federal court in which an attorney for Saab argued his family in Venezuela could be jailed or physically harmed by Maduro’s government if his interactions with U.S. law enforcement became known.

“They are basically under the thumb of the government,” attorney Neil Schuster argued in the hearing. “If the Venezuelan government finds out the extent of what this individual has provided, I have no doubt that there will be retaliation against his wife and his children.”

The Associated Press in November reported that Saab has held several meetings with U.S. law enforcement in his native Colombia as well as Europe. As part of his cooperation, he wired three payments to a DEA-controlled account containing nearly $10 million obtained through corruption.

However, he was deactivated as a source after failing to surrender as had been previously agreed during meetings in which he was represented by U.S. and Colombian attorneys. Two months later, he was sanctioned by the Trump administration and indicted in Miami federal court on charges alleging he siphoned millions from state contracts to build affordable housing for Venezuela’s government.

With the courtroom sealed, Schuster asked for Saab to be released on bond in light of his four years of assistance to the U.S. government — cooperation that other attorneys for Saab have always denied.

Judge Robert Scola immediately rejected the idea, citing Saab’s past attempts to evade extradition, according to the transcript of the closed proceedings.

“So you are going to have all this evidence that this guy is a flight risk, he’s involved in this humongous crime, he’s tried it, he fought extradition, and the judge inexplicably grants him a bond?” Scola said.

New York- based David Rivkin, who was not present in court Wednesday, said the sole purpose of Saab’s meetings with U.S. law enforcement officials was to clear his name and were undertaken with the “full knowledge and support” of Maduro’s government.