Businessman close to Maduro was DEA informant, records show

By JOSHUA GOODMAN
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — Newly unsealed court records show that a Colombian businessman linked to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was secretly signed up by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a cooperating source in 2018 and gave agents information about bribes he paid to Venezuelan officials. Alex Saab forfeited nearly $10 million of his fortune as part of his cooperation agreement with the U.S., which included several meetings with U.S. law enforcement in his native Colombia and elsewhere. However, he was deactivated as a source after failing to meet a deadline to surrender himself. Two months later, he was indicted in Miami federal court on charges of siphoning millions from state contracts.