BOGOT, Colombia (AP) – The Colombian government seized a luxury mansion with spa, tennis and two pools that allegedly belonged to an entrepreneur arrested in Cape Verde for U.S. corruption related to Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro.
Images of the home became public as U.S. officials on Thursday blacklisted two Venezuelan brothers who authorities say carried out “corrupt activities” for Maduro’s government around the world, and supported his son.
The space seized Wednesday in the city of Barranquilla is believed to be worth $7.6 million and is registered as a phantom company but belongs to Alex Saab, according to Colombia’s leading prosecutor.
Six homes totaling two houses, an apartment and three garages were also seized and, along with the mansion, are valued at a total of $9.6 million.
Saab was arrested in June in Cape Verde and has been indicted in the U.S. on money laundering charges connected to an alleged bribery scheme that pocketed more than $350 million from a low-income housing project for the Venezuelan government that was never built.
The 48-year-old man was also sanctioned through the Trump administration for allegedly a network of phantom corporations around the world, from Hong Kong to Mexico, to hide massive profits from overvalued food contracts without a tender he received through bribes and bribes.
America is lately his extradition.
Maduro’s administration questions his arrest, denouting it as an act of illegal aggression through Trump’s management to inflict new difficulties on Venezuela, which experiences an economic downturn worse than the Great American Depression before the pandemic.
Colombian authorities on Thursday posted a video of one of the seized properties, a spacious modern-style space with a grand piano near the entrance. The space seemed empty of any non-public effect but full of furniture.
It features a spa with massage stretchers, a rest room with a giant bathtub and a marble shower, as well as living spaces with a pool and table tennis.
U.S. officials in person have characterized Britain-born Saab as a Maduro pioneer, has not been known as such in court records. Colombian prosecutors had announced in the past that they were freezing 8 homes owned by Saab as part of their own money laundering investigation.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Treasury has hit Venezuelan brothers Santiago José Morón Hernández and Ricardo José Morón Hernández with monetary sanctions. They are accused of doing business on behalf of Maduro’s government and supporting their son, Nicols Maduro Guerra, who had already been sanctioned.
Maduro Guerra and the two brothers are also central figures in sales of gold illegally mined in Venezuela and sent through the Central Bank of Venezuela, the United States said.
Trump’s management has already sanctioned Maduro and dozens of members of the socialist leader’s inner circle on a crusade to pressure him to leave him. The United States supports opposition leader Juan Guaid.