Washington: US authorities have arrested Colombian businessman Alvaro Pulido Vargas, who had been wanted for years over alleged money laundering and bribery schemes involving more than $2 billion linked to government programmes under former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The US Department of Justice announced on Sunday that Pulido, 62, was in federal custody in southern Florida. He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on Tuesday, October 13.
Pulido faces two separate federal indictments filed in 2019 and 2021. Prosecutors allege that he and his associates exploited Venezuelan government programmes designed to provide food, medicine and affordable housing, using American and international banking networks to conceal the proceeds.
“Alvaro Pulido Vargas is no longer a fugitive from justice,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Pulido is charged in two separate, significant money laundering schemes, both using the U.S. financial system to hide the profits from his bribery and greed off the backs of the Venezuelan people,” Duva said.
$1.6 Billion Case Linked to Venezuela’s Food and Medicine Programme
The larger case centres on approximately $1.6 billion in Venezuelan government contracts awarded between 2015 and 2020 under a state-controlled food and medicine distribution programme known as CLAP.
Federal prosecutors allege that Pulido and four co-defendants secured lucrative contracts by bribing Venezuelan officials and inflating prices to generate illegal profits.
Investigators say the defendants received approximately $1.6 billion from the Venezuelan government and transferred around $180 million through or into the United States.
The alleged transactions involved bank accounts in Antigua, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and other jurisdictions.
In the 2021 case, Pulido faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and four substantive money-laundering counts. Each charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
The charges relate to allegations that the defendants used the financial system to move and conceal proceeds linked to the contracts.
Separate Case Alleges $350 Million Housing Scheme
A separate indictment filed in July 2019 accuses Pulido and businessman Alex Nain Saab Moran, an ally of Maduro, of laundering approximately $350 million.
According to prosecutors, the two businessmen obtained contracts to construct low-income housing in Venezuela but later submitted fraudulent import documents for construction materials that were allegedly never brought into the country.
Venezuelan officials were allegedly bribed to approve the documents, enabling the defendants to exploit preferential currency exchange arrangements.
Investigators say approximately $350 million was transferred out of Venezuela through the US financial system into overseas accounts controlled by the defendants.
The case forms the second major set of allegations against Pulido, with prosecutors accusing him of using financial channels in the United States to facilitate the movement of funds linked to the alleged scheme.
US Authorities Warn Fugitive Status Will Not Prevent Prosecution
US Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida said the allegations involved the misuse of government programmes intended to assist vulnerable Venezuelans.
“Those accused of exploiting the American financial system should understand that distance, borders, and time will not shield them from the reach of the American legal system,” he said.
Pulido, who is also known as German Enrique Rubio Salas, was previously convicted of drug trafficking in Italy in 1997, according to American prosecutors.
His arrest brings him into US federal custody after years of being sought by American authorities. The two indictments involve separate alleged schemes concerning Venezuelan government contracts, with prosecutors alleging that the proceeds were moved through US and international financial networks.
The allegations remain subject to the US judicial process, and the charges against Pulido have yet to be adjudicated in court.