MIAMI — Álvaro Pulido, the Colombian businessman U.S. prosecutors describe as a partner of Alex Saab, has been removed from a Caracas prison by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and is being taken to Florida, according to Colombian daily El Tiempo, which cited unnamed federal sources. Neither the Venezuelan nor the U.S. government had publicly confirmed the transfer as of this Sunday.

The account rests on local reports, anonymous sources and corroboration from an opposition politician.

Federal sources told El Tiempo that DEA Group 10 had just taken Pulido out of a Caracas prison, bound for Florida. Other local outlets reported he was removed from El Rodeo I to an initially unknown destination and later handed to U.S. authorities.

The portal Cuentas Claras Digital first reported the move, and Carlos Paparoni, a leader of the opposition party Primero Justicia, backed it.

One report says he is due in court Tuesday, October 13. No legal procedure for the transfer has been disclosed, and the Venezuelan government has not commented.

U.S. Case

Pulido, whose full name is Álvaro Pulido Vargas, is charged in the same Southern District of Florida case as Saab. U.S. prosecutors allege the two ran a network of shell companies that won contracts under Venezuela’s CLAP food program, with the proceeds funding bribes, inflated prices and low-quality imports.

The indictment alleges they moved about $350 million through accounts in countries including Antigua and Barbuda, Malta and the United Arab Emirates.

The same prosecutors accuse them of obtaining a government housing construction contract through their company Fondo Global de Construcción between 2011 and 2015, using false import documents and invoices.

Washington sanctioned Pulido in 2019. A $10 million U.S. reward for information on him has been reported.

Venezuelan police arrested Pulido in 2023 in the PDVSA-Cripto case, a sweeping corruption investigation into the diversion of billions of dollars from oil operations and cryptocurrency transactions.

The arrest was linked to former oil minister Tareck El Aissami.

Venezuelan authorities accused him of corruption, money laundering and drug trafficking. He had remained at El Rodeo I since.

The Saab Connection

Saab was indicted in Miami in 2019, arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 and extradited to the United States in 2021. He was later freed in a prisoner exchange between Washington and Caracas. Venezuela deported him back to U.S. custody in May, and he arrived at Opa-locka airport in Miami-Dade on May 16, escorted by DEA agents.

Saab pleaded not guilty in July, and on September 15, he changed his plea, telling Judge Kathleen Williams “Guilty, Your Honor” to a charge of conspiracy to commit money laundering.

He faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $100 million. A trial planned for November 16 was cancelled. The terms of his 12-page plea agreement have not been made public, though reports say he will discuss possible cooperation with prosecutors. His sentencing has been reported for January. Nothing in the reports links Saab’s plea to Pulido’s transfer.

If confirmed, Pulido’s removal would be the latest in a series of handovers of people tied to chavista finances to U.S. custody since the January 3 capture of Nicolás Maduro, after which acting President Delcy Rodríguez’s government moved closer to Washington.

El Tiempo also reports that two other people could be taken out of Venezuela in the coming days with the approval of Delcy Rodríguez’s government, a claim that remains unconfirmed.