Fugitive businessman taken into US custody in Venezuela bribery case

A 62‑year‑old businessman, Alvaro Pulido, has been taken into U.S. custody after years of pursuit for alleged bribery of Venezuelan officials. The arrest was announced by U.S. officials on Sunday and follows an investigation by the DEA, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations.

Pulido was first indicted in Miami federal court in 2019 and again in 2021 as part of an inquiry into his longtime partner, Alex Saab, a former ally of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the State Department had offered a reward of up to $10 million for information that would lead to his arrest.

Prosecutors say Pulido and Saab operated a network of offshore shell companies that funneled bribes to Maduro allies in exchange for more than $2 billion in contracts for food, medicine and low‑cost housing during a period of acute hardship in Venezuela. The U.S. attorney general, Todd Blanche, wrote that Pulido’s actions showed a blatant disregard for the Venezuelan people and that no amount of time or distance would stop the justice department from pursuing the criminals.

Pulido was arrested in Venezuela in 2023 during a broad anti‑corruption drive led by acting president Delcy Rodríguez, who succeeded Maduro after the U.S. military’s 2023 intervention. Rodríguez has faced pressure from elements of the ruling coalition to resist the U.S. effort to detain Venezuelan insiders. Saab, also Colombian, was deported to the U.S. in May and pleaded guilty in September, agreeing to cooperate and forfeit $195 million in proceeds from the scheme.