DOJ arrests man accused of washing billions for Maduro regime

A Homeland Security task force on Sunday arrested a Colombian national accused of laundering more than $2 billion in connection with Venezuelan government bribery schemes. Alvaro Pulido Vargas, age 62, is scheduled to appear on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for southern Florida. He faces prosecution for his 2019 and 2021 indictments for allegedly laundering proceeds of bribery and fraud involving Venezuelan government officials of the Nicolás Maduro regime. Also known by the name German Enrique Rubio Salas, Vargas had a prolific drug trafficking history before these charges.

What was he indicted for in 2021? In October 2021, a federal grand jury charged Vargas and four co-defendants with laundering proceeds from an alleged bribery scheme. The plot allegedly involved about $1.6 billion in Venezuelan government contracts awarded through a program supposed to provide food and medicine to households amid an economic crisis.

The defendants allegedly bribed Venezuelan officials to secure contracts and laundered the proceeds through international bank accounts. They allegedly transferred about $180 million through or to U.S. accounts in southern Florida. Vargas faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and four counts of money laundering, each carrying a maximum 20-year prison sentence.

What was he indicted for earlier? In July 2019, Vargas and Alex Nain Saab Moran were indicted for allegedly laundering about $350 million through a bribery scheme involving a Venezuelan government contract to construct low-income housing units.

The defendants allegedly exploited Venezuela’s government-controlled currency exchange system using fraudulent import documents and bribes. They were accused of wiring the illicit proceeds to bank accounts in southern Florida and transferring about $350 million through the United States to overseas accounts they owned or controlled. Vargas faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and seven counts of money laundering.

Why did the United States get involved? The arrest was part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative established by Trump’s executive order called Protecting the American People Against Invasion. Assistant U.S. Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said that this arrest conveyed a message to anyone who brings their foreign bribery or money laundering schemes inside U.S. borders. The U.S. Justice Department will pursue these schemes and prosecute those who perpetrate them, he said.