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Alex Saab, a former Venezuelan industry minister and close ally of deposed President Nicolas Maduro, has pleaded not guilty to money laundering and other financial crime charges before a United States court in Miami.
Lawyers representing the 54-year-old Colombian-born businessman entered the plea on Friday, as Saab did not appear in court.
US prosecutors allege Saab operated a network that exploited Venezuela‘s subsidised food assistance programme, known as CLAP, and laundered hundreds of millions of dollars through American banks.
The US Department of Justice has also accused him of profiting from the illegal sale of Venezuelan oil.
Saab rose to prominence during the final years of former President Hugo Chavez’s administration and later became a trusted ally of Maduro.
According to US authorities, he acted as a frontman and financial operator for Maduro’s government, receiving Venezuelan citizenship and a diplomatic passport in return.
Saab was first sanctioned by the United States in 2019. He was arrested in Cape Verde in 2020, extradited to the US the following year, and released in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange between Washington and Caracas.
After his release, Maduro appointed him as Venezuela’s minister of industry in 2024.
However, he was removed from office by interim President Delcy Rodriguez shortly after US forces captured Maduro during a January raid in Caracas.
Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, are due to stand trial in the United States in June 2027 after pleading not guilty to drug trafficking and firearms charges.
The couple has remained in custody in New York since their arrest in January.
