US Homeland Security investigators have arrested Alvaro Pulido Vargas, a Colombian national, to face federal charges tied to alleged money laundering and bribery schemes connected to the Maduro regime in Venezuela. Pulido Vargas, also known as German Enrique Rubio Salas, 62, is scheduled to make his initial appearance on Tuesday, October 13, in the Southern District of Florida. Prosecutors say the case involves allegations of laundering more than $2 billion tied to Venezuelan government bribery schemes. According to court documents, Pulido Vargas was indicted in 2019 and again in 2021 for involvement in separate schemes to launder proceeds from bribery and fraud involving Venezuelan government officials. In one case, a federal grand jury returned an indictment in October 2021 charging Pulido Vargas and four co-defendants. Prosecutors allege that from about July 2015 through at least 2020, they secured lucrative contracts under CLAP, a Venezuelan government-controlled program intended to provide food and medicine. The indictment says the defendants paid bribes, inflated contract costs, and moved the proceeds through bank accounts in Antigua, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and elsewhere. Prosecutors allege the scheme led to approximately $1.6 billion from the Venezuelan government and about $180 million transferred through or to the United States, including accounts in the Southern District of Florida. Pulido Vargas faces charges including conspiracy to commit money laundering and four counts of money laundering, each with a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. In a separate case, Pulido Vargas and Alex Nain Saab Moran, a Maduro regime ally, were indicted in July 2019. Prosecutors allege they laundered about $350 million connected to a bribery scheme tied to Venezuela’s government-controlled currency exchange system, using bank accounts in the United States from about November 2011 through at least September 2015. Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva said Pulido is no longer a fugitive and is charged in two significant money laundering schemes using the US financial system. The latest status is that Pulido Vargas has been arrested and will face charges during his initial appearance in the Southern District of Florida.