US takes custody of Álvaro Pulido, accused in $2bn Venezuela laundering case
Álvaro Pulido, a 62-year-old Colombian national accused of laundering money allegedly siphoned from a Venezuelan government welfare programme, has been taken into custody in the United States, the US Department of Justice has said.
The department said Pulido was detained on Sunday in an operation involving a Homeland Security task force. It did not say how he came to be in US custody, and no further details were released.
He had been held in Venezuela since March 2023, where he faced accusations of diverting profits from PDVSA, the state-run oil company. The US Drug Enforcement Administration and the State Department had offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest. He is due to appear in court on Tuesday, according to a statement from the US Attorney's Office.
Federal prosecutors say Pulido has been charged in two separate indictments involving the alleged laundering of more than $2 billion in connection with bribery schemes linked to the Venezuelan government.
According to the prosecution's account, Pulido and four co-defendants bribed Venezuelan officials to secure contracts to supply poor Venezuelans with food and medicine. Prosecutors allege that he overcharged the Venezuelan government heavily and moved the proceeds through bank accounts abroad, including in the United States.
They further allege that Pulido worked with Alex Saab, another Colombian businessman, to launder $350 million from a separate bribery scheme involving Venezuela's currency exchange system, using bank accounts in Florida.
Pulido's detention comes about two months after Saab pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in a US court.
Until recently, Saab was a powerful figure in the Venezuelan government, with close ties to Nicolás Maduro, who named him minister of industry in 2024. According to the account given by US officials, Maduro was seized by US forces in a raid on Caracas in January and taken to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. These events could not be independently verified from the information released so far, and Venezuelan officials have not publicly commented in the statements issued to date.
US officials say that less than two weeks after Maduro was taken into custody, the interim government in Venezuela dismissed Saab from his post as minister, and in May extradited him to the United States. Last month, Saab pleaded guilty to money laundering charges.
The two cases are part of a broader set of prosecutions in the United States concerning people accused of profiting from Venezuelan state contracts. Prosecutors have alleged that public funds intended for food, medicine and other essentials were diverted through intermediaries and foreign bank accounts, while ordinary Venezuelans faced shortages and high prices.
The allegations against Pulido remain untested in court. Everyone charged is presumed innocent unless and until guilt is established. Tuesday's hearing is expected to deal with the procedural steps that follow his transfer into US custody, including the reading of charges and the question of bail.
