A fugitive accused of getting rich off programs meant to help Venezuelans is now in U.S. custody, facing charges in a sprawling corruption scandal tied to Nicolás Maduro’s regime.

Alvaro Pulido Vargas, 62, was arrested during a Homeland Security Task Force operation and is scheduled to appear Tuesday, Oct. 13, in federal court in South Florida, the Justice Department announced.

The Colombian national faces two criminal cases alleging he helped funnel money from Venezuelan government bribery schemes through U.S. banks to hide illicit profits.

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\"Pulido is charged in two separate, significant money laundering schemes, both using the U.S. financial system to hide the profits from his bribery and greed off the backs of the Venezuelan people,\" said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva.

Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the arrest Sunday on X, accusing Pulido Vargas of exploiting programs meant to provide essential supplies and housing.

\"His alleged actions show a blatant disregard to the Venezuelan people by corrupting government programs intended to provide critical food, medicine, and housing for personal enrichment and exploiting the American financial system to do it,\" Blanche wrote.

Pulido Vargas, also known as German Enrique Rubio Salas, was charged in 2019 and again in 2021. The Justice Department said he previously was convicted of drug trafficking in Italy in 1997 under that alias.

\"For years,DEAand our HSTF partners have pursued Pulido Vargas across borders. Today, that pursuit has brought him to the Southern District of Florida,\" DEA Administrator Terrance Cole said.

The newer case centers on approximately $1.6 billion in Venezuelan government contracts to supply food and medicine throughCLAP, a government-run distribution program.

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Prosecutors say Pulido Vargas and his associates paid bribes to win the contracts, then inflated prices to cover the payoffs and line their own pockets. The alleged scheme ran from approximately July 2015 through at least 2020.

His son, Emmanuel Enrique Rubio Gonzalez, and former Venezuelan state governor Jose Gregorio Vielma-Mora were among four others charged in the case.

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Prosecutors say Vielma-Mora and a middleman collected roughly $17.3 million in bribes and illicit payments for helping steer government food contracts and other business advantages to the group.

The money allegedly flowed through a web of companies and bank accounts in Antigua, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and elsewhere. The 2021 indictment describes fake contracts and other paperwork allegedly used to make the payments appear legitimate.

Approximately $180 million moved through or into the United States, including accounts in South Florida, according to prosecutors.

\"The allegations describe a profound betrayal of the Venezuelan people; corrupting government programs intended to provide critical food, medicine, and housing for personal enrichment,\" said U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones.

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The earlier case centers on an alleged scheme to cash in on a government program meant tobuild homes for low-income Venezuelans.

Prosecutors charged Pulido Vargas and Maduro allyAlex Nain Saab Moranin 2019, accusing them of using a housing contract to exploit Venezuela’s government-controlled currency exchange system.

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The men allegedly submitted false paperwork claiming they had imported goods and building materials that never entered Venezuela, then bribed officials to approve those documents.

Prosecutors say they moved approximately $350 million out of Venezuela through U.S. banks and into overseas accounts they controlled. The alleged scheme ran from approximately November 2011 through at least September 2015.

Pulido Vargas faces fivemoney laundering-related chargesin the 2021 case, each carrying a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. He faces eight additional money laundering-related charges in the 2019 case.

The DEA, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations are investigating the cases through theHomeland Security Task Force initiative.

Blanche pointed to the arrest as a warning to others facing U.S. prosecution.

\"No amount of time or distance will stop @TheJusticeDept from working with our federal law enforcement and international partners to pursue these criminals and bring them to justice in an American courtroom,\" he wrote.

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He was indicted in Miami in 2019 and 2021 as part of an investigation into his business partner, Alex Saab. Pulido's arrest followed an investigation by multiple U.S. agencies.","A businessman wanted for years in the U.S. for allegedly paying bribes to top Venezuelan officials in exchange for lucrative state contracts in Venezuela has been taken into custody.","https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2026/10/11/a54e4a68-fe00-4b61-86ed-c7dbf9b2f383/thumbnail/1200x630/8edcf1217f1afb482525a9ec0ca6d0d9/ap26257595031556.jpg","2026-10-11T19:36:52","https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alvaro-pulido-us-custody-venezuela-bribery/","liberal",{"_31":114,"_60":115,"_62":63,"_50":116,"_65":117,"_67":118,"_69":119},"A businessman wanted for years in the U.S. for allegedly paying bribes to top Venezuelan officials in exchange for lucrative state contracts in Venezuela has been taken into custody.\n\nAlvaro Pulido was indicted in Miami federal court in 2019 and again in 2021 as part of an investigation into his longtime business partner, Alex Saab, a one-time ally of ousted President Nicolás Maduro. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and State Department had been offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest.\n\nPulido was taken into U.S. custody after an investigation led by the DEA, FBI and Homeland Security Investigations agencies, Nicole Navas Oxman, a Homeland Security Task Force spokesperson, said Sunday.\n\nOxman didn't say how Pulido ended up in U.S. custody but said he will make his initial court appearance Tuesday in Miami.\n\nVenezuelan authorities have so far been silent about the arrest, reflecting the challenge acting President Delcy Rodríguez faces in appeasing elements of the ruling coalition that want her to resist attempts by the Trump administration to round up scores of Venezuelan insiders wanted by the U.S., sometimes for years, for serious crimes ranging from corruption to drug trafficking.\n\nThe Colombian-born Pulido was arrested in Venezuela in 2023 as part of a sprawling crackdown on corruption inside state-run oil company PDVSA that was led by Rodríguez while she was serving as Maduro's vice president. She took over as Venezuela's acting president following the U.S. military's ouster of Maduro in January.\n\nProsecutors allege that Pulido, together with Saab, created a network of offshore shell companies to funnel bribes to top Maduro allies in exchange for contracts to import food, medicine and low-cost housing at a time of widespread hardship in the South American country.\n\nSaab, who also hails from Colombia, was deported to the U.S. by Rodríguez in May. 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He is scheduled to appear in a Florida courtroom on October 13th. Pulido was indicted in Miami in absentia in 2019 and again in 2021, with a reward offered for his arrest.","Alvaro Pulido was convicted of drug trafficking in Italy in 1997, according to prosecutors.","https://img.theepochtimes.com/assets/uploads/2026/10/12/id6102555-pulido-1080x678.jpg","2026-10-12T17:27:12","https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/fugitive-businessman-linked-to-alleged-venezuelan-corruption-taken-into-us-custody-6102441",{"_31":135,"_60":136,"_62":63,"_50":137,"_65":138,"_67":139,"_69":140},"A Colombian businessman wanted by the United States for allegedly paying bribes to secure lucrative Venezuelan government contracts has been taken into custody and will appear in a Florida courtroom on Oct. 13.Alvaro Pulido, 62, is alleged to have laundered more than $2 billion in connection with the bribery schemes, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.A federal court in Miami indicted Pulido in absentia in 2019 and again in 2021. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. State Department offered a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest. 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Alvaro Pulido Taken Into U.S. Custody

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