Maduro linked fugitive arrested in U.S. over alleged $1.6 billion Venezuelan bribery scheme

A fugitive businessman tied to the regime of Nicolas Maduro is in U.S. custody, accused of helping loot Venezuelan government programs meant to provide food, medicine and housing to the country's poorest citizens.

Alvaro Pulido Vargas was arrested by federal law enforcement and now faces two separate federal indictments in the Southern District of Florida, from 2019 and 2021, Attorney General Todd Blanche announced Sunday. DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said the arrest brought Pulido Vargas into the reach of American courts.

The newer case centers on about $1.6 billion in Venezuelan government contracts to supply food and medicine through CLAP, the regime's state run distribution program. Prosecutors say Pulido Vargas and his associates paid bribes to win the contracts, then inflated prices to cover the payoffs and enrich themselves. The alleged scheme ran from about July 2015 through at least 2020.

Four others were charged alongside him, including his son Emmanuel Enrique Rubio Gonzalez and former Venezuelan state governor Jose Gregorio Vielma Mora. Prosecutors say Vielma Mora and a middleman collected about $17.3 million in bribes and illicit payments for steering government food contracts to the group.

The money moved through companies and bank accounts in Antigua, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and elsewhere, according to prosecutors, who describe fake contracts and paperwork used to make the payments look legitimate. About $180 million moved through or into the United States, including accounts in South Florida.

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

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

Maduro himself was captured by U.S. forces in January along with his wife Cilia Flores. Pulido Vargas had been a fugitive since the indictments were unsealed.