Under the plea agreement, Saab agreed to cooperate with US investigations and forfeit $195 million in proceeds that prosecutors identified as illicit, Anadolu Agency reported.
The 54-year-old admitted to one count of money laundering connected to a scheme involving Venezuelan government contracts to import food.
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US prosecutors accused Saab and his associates of using fictitious companies and falsified shipping records to divert money from government contracts. The alleged scheme also involved bribes paid to Venezuelan officials.
The case centers on Venezuela’s CLAP food program, which was established to provide subsidized food to millions of Venezuelans during the country’s economic crisis.
Prosecutors alleged that Saab used shell companies and US bank accounts to transfer and conceal proceeds connected to the scheme.
Saab had previously pleaded not guilty to the charges. His change of plea came after a federal judge in Miami scheduled a hearing for Tuesday and canceled a planned trial.
The guilty plea marks a new development in the long-running US case against Saab, whom American authorities have described as a key financial intermediary for Maduro.
US authorities first charged Saab in 2019. He was arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 while traveling to Iran and extradited to the United States in 2021.
In 2023, then-US President Joe Biden pardoned Saab as part of a prisoner exchange that secured the release of several Americans detained in Venezuela.
Saab was later returned to US custody after Venezuelan authorities deported him in May amid renewed pressure from Washington.
His agreement to cooperate with US investigators could make him a potential witness in other cases involving Venezuelan officials, including the US prosecution of Maduro, who faces drug trafficking charges in the United States.
The plea comes as Washington continues to reshape its relations with Venezuela following Maduro’s removal from power earlier this year.
