Reuters: Arrest of Maduro Ally Alex Saab in Venezuela… Venezuelan Sources Deny the Report

Reuters reported that Alex Saab, a businessman close to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, was arrested on Wednesday in Venezuela as part of a joint operation between U.S. and Venezuelan authorities. Saab, 54, was previously arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 and spent more than three years in the United States on bribery charges, before receiving a pardon in exchange for the release of Americans detained in Venezuela.
He is expected to be extradited to the United States in the coming days.
However, his lawyer and several pro-government Venezuelan journalists denied the report, and no official confirmation has been issued by the Venezuelan government, raising questions about the accuracy of the news.
The United States had previously accused Saab of laundering approximately $350 million of Venezuelan state funds through the U.S. financial system as part of a bribery scheme—an allegation Saab denied prior to receiving the pardon.