US arrests Venezuelan-linked money-launderer Alvaro Pulido Vargas in Florida
Alvaro Pulido Vargas, a 62‑year‑old Colombian national also identified as German Enrique Rubio Salas, was arrested during a Homeland Security Task Force operation in South Florida on Oct. 12, 2026, the Justice Department said, and is scheduled to appear in federal court on Oct. 13.
The arrest marks a significant step in a sprawling corruption investigation tied to President Nicolás Maduro’s government, with prosecutors charging Pulido in two separate money‑laundering schemes that allegedly used the U.S. financial system to conceal profits from Venezuelan bribery operations.
According to Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva, Pulido is charged with “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.” The indictment alleges that Pulido helped funnel money from Venezuelan government contracts through U.S. banks, disguising illicit payments as legitimate business transactions.
“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,” Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X.
The newer indictment focuses on a $1.6 billion food‑and‑medicine distribution program known as CLAP. Prosecutors say Pulido and associates paid bribes to secure contracts, then inflated prices to cover payoffs, moving roughly $180 million through accounts in South Florida. His son, Emmanuel Enrique Rubio Gonzalez, and former Venezuelan governor José Gregorio Vielma‑Mora were among four others charged in this scheme, which allegedly generated $17.3 million in illicit payments.
A separate, earlier case centers on a housing‑contract fraud that ran from late 2011 through 2015. Prosecutors claim the scheme involved false paperwork for imported building materials that never entered Venezuela, enabling the siphoning of about $350 million out of the country through U.S. banks.
DEA Administrator Terrance Cole praised the long‑term effort, saying, “For years, DEA and our HSTF partners have pursued Pulido Vargas across borders. Today, that pursuit has brought him to the Southern District of Florida.”
If convicted, Pulido faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the five money‑laundering counts in the 2021 case and eight additional counts from the 2019 indictment.
The upcoming appearance on Oct. 13 will determine whether he is held without bail and set a timetable for the federal trial that could illuminate the full scope of the Maduro‑linked corruption network.
