Alejandro Betancourt: Venezuelan Billionaire the U.S. Investigated for Money Laundering Now Has a Pentagon Oil Deal
September 5th, 2026Via: Reuters:
The billionaire who helped broker the Trump administration’s sweeping long-term oil deal with Venezuela was until recently a target of U.S. money-laundering investigations involving funds embezzled from the state-owned oil company PDVSA. Now, after assisting U.S. authorities ahead of the capture ?of authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro, Alejandro Betancourt is Washington’s key partner in an unusual oil agreement with Caracas.
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Earlier this year U.S. federal prosecutors in Florida paused their investigation into Betancourt in connection with an alleged plan that involved embezzling over $1 billion from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company and laundering it through real estate in Miami and bank accounts in Malta and Switzerland.
Two of those people said U.S. prosecutors had been subsequently discouraged by supervisors from investigating Betancourt further.
More: Who is Alejandro Betancourt, the Venezuelan tycoon behind the big oil deal with Trump?
