In 2023, President Joe Biden pardoned a man U.S. officials had spent years calling Nicolas Maduro’s personal bag man and sent him back to Venezuela as part of a controversial prisoner swap.
Less than three years later, that man is reportedly headed right back toward American justice.
Alex Saab, a 54-year-old Colombian businessman and close Maduro ally, has reportedly been deported following a February arrest carried out in a joint U.S.-Venezuelan operation.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez credited President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the development.
Thanks to President Trump & Secretary Rubio, interim dictator Delcy Rodriguez has turned over narcoterrorist criminal Alex Saab to face justice in the United States.
Diosdado Cabello must be next! 🇻🇪🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/qX8EJqx7QN
— Rep. Carlos A. Gimenez (@RepCarlos) May 17, 2026
The turnover marks a stunning reversal. U.S. prosecutors had previously alleged Saab siphoned $350 million out of Venezuela, and federal officials openly described him as the financial fixer at the center of the Maduro regime’s corruption network.
Biden gave all of that up when he pardoned and released Saab in the 2023 swap.
Now, with Maduro captured and awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan, the political landscape in Venezuela has shifted dramatically, and Saab’s legal exposure has shifted with it.
Fox News reported on the deportation and noted Saab could become a key witness against Maduro himself.
Alex Saab, a 54-year-old Colombian businessman and close Maduro ally, was reportedly deported after a February arrest in a joint U.S.-Venezuelan operation.
The reversal lands less than three years after Biden pardoned and released Saab in a 2023 prisoner swap. The same account said Saab could become a key witness against Maduro.
Maduro is awaiting trial on drug charges in Manhattan, which makes Saab’s potential witness value much larger than an ordinary corruption case.
Prior court proceedings showed Saab had held secret meetings with the DEA for years to help identify corruption inside Maduro’s camp.
U.S. officials had previously described Saab as Maduro’s bag man and alleged he siphoned $350 million out of Venezuela.
ADVERTISEMENTThe story does not end with the old pardon. Active federal investigative threads reportedly still involve alleged bribery conspiracies tied to Saab and the broader Maduro network.
That is why the Biden pardon is suddenly back in the spotlight. The old swap may not have ended Saab’s usefulness to U.S. investigators or prosecutors.
That detail transforms Saab from a target into a potential cooperator with enormous value to federal prosecutors building a case against the former Venezuelan dictator.
Fox also reported that active federal investigative threads involve alleged bribery conspiracies tied to Saab and the broader Maduro network.
Venezuela’s immigration authority posted its own announcement tied to the deportation of a Colombian citizen connected to U.S. criminal investigations.
— VenezuelaSaime (@VenezuelaSaime) May 16, 2026
NBC Miami confirmed Venezuela said it deported a close Maduro ally to face judicial proceedings in the United States, and embedded Gimenez’s statement that Saab had been “turned over to face justice.”
Venezuela said it deported a close Maduro ally to face judicial proceedings in the United States, adding a second news account to the sudden turn in Saab’s legal position.
ADVERTISEMENTThe account embedded Rep. Carlos Gimenez’s statement that Saab had been turned over to face justice in the United States.
It also noted that Venezuela’s immigration authority avoided naming Saab directly while describing action tied to U.S. criminal investigations.
That detail matters because Venezuela’s legal posture around extradition and nationality can be politically sensitive.
The public statement from the immigration authority kept the language generic, while the political reaction from Gimenez named Saab outright and credited Trump and Rubio for the move.
The result is a rare alignment of foreign-policy consequence and domestic political accountability.
It also gives readers a concrete public record beyond anonymous sourcing: a local news account, a congressional statement, and a Venezuelan government post all pointing toward the same development.
Gimenez did not stop at Saab. He called for Diosdado Cabello, another senior Maduro regime figure, to be next.
The broader picture is hard to miss. Biden spent political capital pardoning a man the U.S. government had pursued for years.
The Trump administration and Venezuela’s new leadership are now reportedly undoing that decision and potentially turning Saab into the prosecution’s star witness against Maduro.
It is a reminder that pardons can erase a sentence but they cannot erase the facts, and the facts surrounding Alex Saab appear to be catching up with him all over again.
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