The Justice Department's Homeland Security taskforce said Monday it has arrested former Venezuelan Minister of Industry and National Production Alex Saab Monday on money laundering charges involving Venezuelan food contracts and oil.

Saab, a known ally of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, has been accused of participating in a sprawling international money laundering conspiracy involving the corruption and exploitation of a Venezuelan public welfare program.

Court records claimed the 55-year-old Saab was allegedly involved in a scheme to bribe Venezuelan public officials to secure lucrative Comité Local de Abastecimiento y Producción contracts to import food into Venezuela.

“Thanks to the efforts of the Homeland Security Task Force, Alex Saab will be prosecuted and held fully accountable under U.S. law for his alleged role in this scheme,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement.

Saab has been charged with allegedly conspiring with others to fraudulently misrepresent the nature and source of the food supplies, including by falsely documenting imports from Colombia and Mexico. 

The Justice Department accused Saab and his partners of using shell companies, creating fraudulent invoices and falsifying shipping records and other documents to siphon off hundreds of millions of dollars that were intended to be used to purchase food for Venezuelans.

“Alex Saab allegedly used American banks to launder hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from a Venezuelan food program meant for the poor and proceeds from the illegal sale of Venezuelan oil,” Assistant Attorney General Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said. “This is unacceptable. The Criminal Division will not allow foreign actors to exploit the American financial system and use it as a safe haven for the proceeds of their corruption.”

If convicted, Saab faces up to 20 years in federal prison.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.