{"id":73626,"date":"2026-05-16T21:57:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/maduros-alleged-bag-man-alex-saab-arrested-less-than-3-years-after-biden-pardon-report\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T21:57:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T02:57:00","slug":"maduros-alleged-bag-man-alex-saab-arrested-less-than-3-years-after-biden-pardon-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/16\/maduros-alleged-bag-man-alex-saab-arrested-less-than-3-years-after-biden-pardon-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Maduro’s alleged ‘bag man’ Alex Saab arrested less than 3 years after Biden pardon: report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Saab, a 54-year-old Colombian businessman and close ally of captured former Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a>, was reportedly deported after his February arrest in a joint U.S.-Venezuelan operation.<\/p>\n

The development comes less than three years after former President Joe Biden<\/a> pardoned and released Saab in a controversial 2023 prisoner swap.<\/p>\n

The high-profile arrest highlights a new level of cooperation between U.S. authorities and Venezuela’s interim President Delcy Rodr\u00edguez.<\/p>\n

MADURO ALLY ALEX SAAB ARRESTED IN JOINT US-VENEZUELAN OPERATION, OFFICIAL SAYS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Following Maduro\u2019s capture in a January U.S. military raid<\/a>, Rodr\u00edguez stripped Saab of his cabinet position and his role as the main conduit for foreign investments, according to a report<\/a> from The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

If returned to U.S. custody, Saab could become a crucial star witness against Maduro, who is currently awaiting trial on drug charges<\/a> in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

Court hearings previously revealed that Saab held secret meetings with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)<\/a> for years, helping them identify corruption within Maduro\u2019s camp.<\/p>\n

VENEZUELA ORDERS NATIONWIDE MANHUNT FOR SUPPORTERS AFTER MADURO’S ARREST BY US FORCES<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Described by U.S. officials as Maduro\u2019s “bag man,” Saab was previously detained in 2020 on bribery charges, with U.S. officials alleging he siphoned $350 million out of<\/a> Venezuela, according to the AP.<\/p>\n

While Biden’s 2023 pardon was focused on a specific 2019 indictment over unbuilt low-income housing, Saab still faces active federal investigations<\/a> over alleged bribery conspiracies involving Venezuelan food import contracts.<\/p>\n

The Venezuelan immigration authority confirmed a “Colombian citizen” was being sent away due to U.S. criminal investigations, but avoided confirmation of his destination to bypass Venezuelan laws prohibiting the extradition of its own nationals, the AP reported.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Justice<\/a> and Saab\u2019s lawyer, Neil Schuster, did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital’s Landon Mion and The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Saab, a 54-year-old Colombian businessman and close ally of captured former Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, was reportedly deported after his February arrest in a joint U.S.-Venezuelan operation. The development comes less than three years after former President Joe Biden pardoned and released Saab in a controversial 2023 prisoner swap. The high-profile arrest highlights a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73626\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}