A Colombian man accused of laundering money siphoned from a Venezuelan government welfare scheme has been detained in the United States, the Justice Department said.
Álvaro Pulido, 62, was arrested on Sunday during an operation by a Homeland Security Task Force, the department said, though it gave no details on how he came into US custody. He is set to appear in court on Tuesday, the US Attorney’s Office said.
Pulido had been held in Venezuela since March 2023, where he faced accusations of diverting profits from the state oil firm PDVSA. American agencies, the DEA and the State Department, had offered a $10m (£7.5m) reward for information leading to his arrest.
Two federal indictments over bribery and laundering
Prosecutors said Pulido faces two separate federal indictments, which describe alleged laundering of more than $2bn (£1.5bn) connected to Venezuelan government bribery schemes. Along with four co-defendants, he is accused of paying off officials to win contracts supplying food and medicine to poor Venezuelans.
Prosecutors further allege he inflated what he charged the Venezuelan government and moved the profits through bank accounts abroad, including in the US. They also claim that, together with Alex Saab, he laundered $350m from a separate bribery scheme tied to Venezuela’s currency exchange system, using accounts in Florida.
Saab’s fall after Maduro was seized
Saab, another Colombian businessman, was once a powerful figure with close ties to then-leader Nicolás Maduro, who made him industry minister in 2024. Pulido’s arrest came just two months after Saab pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in a US court.
Saab’s standing shifted after US forces seized Maduro in a January raid on Caracas and took him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. Less than two weeks later, the new US-backed interim government removed Saab as minister, and in May it handed him over to the United States.
