Álvaro Pulido, a 62-year-old Colombian man, was arrested during a Homeland Security Task Force operation on Sunday, according to an announcement by the US Department of Justice. Pulido had previously been incarcerated in Venezuela since March 2023 on accusations of diverting funds from the state-run petroleum company PDVSA. The US Drug Enforcement Administration and State Department had jointly offered a $10 million reward for information that would lead to his apprehension. He is scheduled to make a court appearance on Tuesday.
US prosecutors have filed two separate federal indictments against Pulido, charging him with laundering more than $2 billion in connection with Venezuelan government bribery schemes. According to the allegations, Pulido and four co-defendants paid bribes to Venezuelan government officials to obtain contracts for providing food and medicine to impoverished Venezuelans. Authorities contend that Pulido systematically overcharged the Venezuelan government and moved the resulting profits through bank accounts located outside Venezuela, including financial institutions in the United States.
Investigators also assert that Pulido collaborated with fellow Colombian businessman Alex Saab to move $350 million obtained through a separate bribery arrangement centered on Venezuela’s currency exchange mechanisms, utilizing bank accounts in Florida. Saab, who previously held significant influence within the Venezuelan government and maintained strong connections with then-leader Nicolás Maduro—who appointed him minister of industry in 2024—subsequently pleaded guilty to money laundering charges in a US court earlier this year. Following Maduro’s capture by US forces during a raid in January and his subsequent transport to New York to face drug-trafficking charges, the political landscape shifted dramatically. The new US-backed interim Venezuelan government removed Saab from his ministerial position less than two weeks after Maduro’s seizure and later extradited him to the United States in May.
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