Maduro-linked fugitive nabbed over alleged scheme to cash in on Venezuelans’ basic needs

A fugitive accused of getting rich off programs meant to help Venezuelans is now in U.S. custody, facing charges in a sprawling corruption scandal tied to Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

Alvaro Pulido Vargas, 62, was arrested during a Homeland Security Task Force operation and is scheduled to appear Tuesday, Oct. 13, in federal court in South Florida, the Justice Department announced.

The Colombian national faces two criminal cases alleging he helped funnel money from Venezuelan government bribery schemes through U.S. banks to hide illicit profits.

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"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," said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva.

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the arrest Sunday on X, accusing Pulido Vargas of exploiting programs meant to provide essential supplies and housing.

"His alleged actions show a blatant disregard to the Venezuelan people by corrupting government programs intended to provide critical food, medicine, and housing for personal enrichment and exploiting the American financial system to do it," Blanche wrote.

Pulido Vargas, also known as German Enrique Rubio Salas, was charged in 2019 and again in 2021. The Justice Department said he previously was convicted of drug trafficking in Italy in 1997 under that alias.

"For years, DEA and our HSTF partners have pursued Pulido Vargas across borders. Today, that pursuit has brought him to the Southern District of Florida," DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said.

The newer case centers on approximately $1.6 billion in Venezuelan government contracts to supply food and medicine through CLAP, a government-run distribution program.

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Prosecutors say Pulido Vargas and his associates paid bribes to win the contracts, then inflated prices to cover the payoffs and line their own pockets. The alleged scheme ran from approximately July 2015 through at least 2020.

His son, Emmanuel Enrique Rubio Gonzalez, and former Venezuelan state governor Jose Gregorio Vielma-Mora were among four others charged in the case.

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Prosecutors say Vielma-Mora and a middleman collected roughly $17.3 million in bribes and illicit payments for helping steer government food contracts and other business advantages to the group.

The money allegedly flowed through a web of companies and bank accounts in Antigua, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and elsewhere. The 2021 indictment describes fake contracts and other paperwork allegedly used to make the payments appear legitimate.

Approximately $180 million moved through or into the United States, including accounts in South Florida, according to prosecutors.

"The allegations describe a profound betrayal of the Venezuelan people; corrupting government programs intended to provide critical food, medicine, and housing for personal enrichment," said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones.

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The earlier case centers on an alleged scheme to cash in on a government program meant to build homes for low-income Venezuelans.

Prosecutors charged Pulido Vargas and Maduro ally Alex Nain Saab Moran in 2019, accusing them of using a housing contract to exploit Venezuela’s government-controlled currency exchange system.

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The men allegedly submitted false paperwork claiming they had imported goods and building materials that never entered Venezuela, then bribed officials to approve those documents.

Prosecutors say they moved approximately $350 million out of Venezuela through U.S. banks and into overseas accounts they controlled. The alleged scheme ran from approximately November 2011 through at least September 2015.

Pulido Vargas faces five money laundering-related charges in the 2021 case, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. He faces eight additional money laundering-related charges in the 2019 case.

The DEA, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating the cases through the Homeland Security Task Force initiative.

Blanche pointed to the arrest as a warning to others facing U.S. prosecution.

"No amount of time or distance will stop @TheJusticeDept from working with our federal law enforcement and international partners to pursue these criminals and bring them to justice in an American courtroom," he wrote.