As many as 12 Americans jailed in Venezuela will be released Wednesday in a prisoner swap for Alex Saab, an infamous dealmaker in the Venezuelan government.
Saab, 51, is a key ally of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro. He was arrested in 2020 on U.S. money laundering charges and accused of stealing $350 million from a government program to build cheap housing.
President Biden and the State Department did not immediately confirm the details of the deal, which was reported by The Associated Press, Reuters and CBS News.
In exchange for Saab, up to 12 Americans will be freed, sources told Reuters. Those prisoners have not been publicly identified.
Three Americans in Venezuela — Eyvin Hernandez, Jerrel Kenemore and Joseph Cristella — have been labeled by the State Department as wrongfully detained. They were accused of entering Venezuela illegally from Colombia.
Also behind bars in Venezuela are two former Green Berets, Luke Denman and Airan Berry. They were part of a failed attempt to oust Maduro in 2019.
Meanwhile, Saab had been a high-profile target of the U.S. for years. He was formally charged in 2019 with money laundering.
For nearly a decade, Saab worked behind the scenes to drive the Venezuelan economy despite global U.S. sanctions. Known as a close ally of Maduro, Saab swiped much of the money for himself and others in the Venezuelan government while keeping everyday citizens poor, according to U.S. investigators.
The specific charges against him surround a 2011 deal in which Saab was paid $350 million by the Venezuelan government to build low-income housing. Saab and his associates were accused of bribing Venezuelan officials to get the contracts, then pocketing the money for themselves. The bribes were allegedly paid in Miami.
Saab was charged in 2019 and arrested in 2020 in Cape Verde. He had stopped there to refuel his plane on the way to Iran.
Venezuela claimed that Saab was a government envoy and therefore covered by diplomatic immunity. He was eventually extradited to the U.S., but his trial never began before Wednesday’s prisoner swap.
The deal is part of ongoing diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. and Venezuela. In 2022, the South American nation freed seven Americans in exchange for two nephews of Maduro’s wife who were convicted of drug smuggling.
With News Wire Services
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