Venezuelan official Alex Saab, a former businessman once held in the US, was arrested in Venezuela on Wednesday as part of a joint operation between US and Venezuelan authorities, a US law enforcement official said.
Colombian-born Saab, a close ally of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, was detained in Cape Verde in 2020 and held in the US for more than three years on bribery charges, before being granted clemency in exchange for the release of Americans held in Venezuela.
Colombian newspaper El Espectador later on Wednesday cited a lawyer for Saab, Luigi Giuliano, denying the arrest as "fake news." Journalists aligned with Venezuela's government also denied in social media posts that Saab had been arrested.
Speaking to Venezuelan news site TalCual, Giuliano added that Saab might make an appearance to confirm this himself but was consulting with the government about what had happened.
Venezuela's top lawmaker Jorge Rodriguez neither denied nor confirmed the reports in an evening press conference, saying this was not under his remit and he had no information concerning the possible arrest.
Giuliano did not immediately respond to emails sent to addresses listed on a law firm website. A lawyer who represented Saab in US court in December 2023 declined to comment.
Saab, 54, is expected to be extradited to the US in the coming days, the US official said.
That would represent a dramatic development a month after Maduro himself was captured by US forces in Caracas, and would suggest a new level of collaboration between US and Venezuelan law enforcement under the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's former deputy.
The US official noted the significance of Rodriguez's cooperation in the joint operation. As interim leader, Rodriguez controls Venezuela's law enforcement agencies and actions.
The US Justice Department and White House did not respond to requests for comment.
Raul Gorrin, the head of Venezuela's Globovision TV network, was also arrested in the operation, according to the official.
Lawyers for Gorrin could not immediately be identified. Globovision did not respond to a call and email from Reuters.
The Venezuelan communications ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Before his 2023 clemency, US officials had charged Saab with siphoning around $350 million out of Venezuela through the US as part of a bribery scheme linked to Venezuela's state-controlled exchange rate.
Saab denied the charges and appealed to have them dismissed on grounds of diplomatic immunity. An appeals court had not ruled on Saab's appeal at the time of the prisoner swap.
He returned with fanfare to Venezuela at the end of 2023, where Maduro lauded his loyalty to the country's socialist revolution and feted him as a national hero.
Maduro later made Saab industry minister, a position he held until last month, when he was removed by Rodriguez.
Nearly two dozen more prisoners freed in Venezuela, legal rights group says
Twenty-two more prisoners have been released in Venezuela, the country's top legal rights group said on Wednesday, as liberations promised by the interim government slowly continue.
Legal rights organization Foro Penal said earlier in the day that 350 people who it classes as political prisoners had been freed since Jan. 8, when the government announced the effort. In the afternoon, Foro Penal said that it had confirmed 22 more releases, including of the journalist Rory Branker.
Government officials - who deny holding political prisoners and say those jailed have committed crimes - have given a much higher figure of releases, of nearly 900, but have not been clear about the timeline and appear to be including releases from previous years in their count. The government has never provided an official list of how many prisoners will be released nor who they are.
Families of prisoners say the releases have progressed too slowly, and Foro Penal says nearly 700 political prisoners remain jailed, an updated count including prisoners whose fearful families had not previously reported their detentions.