What public DOJ indictments or criminal cases have charged Venezuelan officials or intermediaries with narcotics or money‑laundering offenses?
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Executive summary
The United States Department of Justice has filed multiple high‑profile criminal actions charging Venezuelan officials and intermediaries with narcotics and money‑laundering offenses, most prominently the sweeping 2020/2026 indictments against President Nicolás Maduro and senior associates alleging narco‑terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering [1] [2] [3]. Separate civil and criminal complaints and indictments have targeted other Venezuelan power‑holders or intermediaries, including a Florida criminal complaint against Chief Justice Maikel Moreno and a Texas indictment against former energy official Nervis Villalobos alleging money‑laundering schemes tied to bribes and corrupt energy contracts [2].
1. The Maduro case: sprawling narco‑terrorism and trafficking allegations
A federal criminal case first unsealed in March 2020 and expanded with a superseding indictment unsealed in early January 2026 accuses Nicolás Maduro and a network of current and former Venezuelan officials of leading a long‑running narco‑terrorism conspiracy that partnered with Colombian guerrilla groups and international cartels to move large quantities of cocaine toward the United States, and of using state resources — including diplomatic cover and military protection — to facilitate trafficking and repatriate proceeds [1] [4] [5] [3].
2. Who else is named in the Maduro indictments and what are they accused of?
The unsealed filings name a roster of senior figures and family members — including Diosdado Cabello, Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, Cilia Flores, and Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra (“Nicolasito”) — alleging roles ranging from securing airstrips and armed escorts for shipments to providing diplomatic passports and diplomatic flights to move laundered money, and even ordering violence against rivals tied to the trafficking enterprise, according to New York prosecutors [5] [6] [7].
3. Money‑laundering cases beyond the New York narco‑terrorism indictment
DOJ press materials and related reporting show parallel prosecutions and complaints focused on money‑laundering and corruption: Maikel José Moreno, the Venezuelan Supreme Court chief justice, was charged by criminal complaint in the Southern District of Florida with conspiracy to commit money laundering and money‑laundering connected to alleged bribes to fix cases; former vice minister of energy Nervis Gerardo Villalobos was indicted in the Southern District of Texas on conspiracy to commit money laundering, money‑laundering counts and alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act tied to bribe‑for‑contract schemes [2].
4. Cooperating defendants, extraditions and guilty pleas cited by DOJ
The DOJ narrative has included cooperation or convictions by former insiders: Hugo Armando Carvajal, a onetime director of military intelligence, pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York in June 2025 to narco‑terrorism, narcotics and weapons offenses connected to the larger indictment, and Spain approved his extradition in 2023 before his transfer to U.S. custody, signaling cross‑border law‑enforcement coordination in these matters [1] [5].
5. Alleged links to foreign cartels and gangs named in indictments
Prosecutors allege Maduro’s network worked with violent trafficking organizations including FARC dissidents, Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, the Zetas, and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang to ship cocaine through transshipment points in the Caribbean and Central America, and to funnel profits to officials who shielded the operations — claims repeated across DOJ releases and mainstream reporting [5] [3] [8] [9].
6. Alternative perspectives, political context and reporting caveats
Supporters of the indictments argue they are necessary to hold a corrupt leadership accountable, while Maduro’s supporters and Venezuelan authorities reject the charges as politically motivated — a point reflected in reporting that notes the U.S. actions have become entangled with broader geopolitical pressure and, in 2026, military operations that the U.S. framed as linked to those indictments [1] [10] [11]. The available sources document the allegations and DOJ filings; they do not provide in‑country judicial findings against most named Venezuelan officials, and reporting distinguishes alleged conduct in indictments from adjudicated convictions [2] [5].
7. Where the evidence trail is strongest and where questions remain
The clearest public record of criminal accountability so far is limited to pleas and extraditions (for example Carvajal’s guilty plea and extradition steps) and to the formal charges and complaints lodged by U.S. prosecutors in multiple jurisdictions (New York, D.C., Florida, Texas) that allege both narcotics trafficking and money‑laundering schemes [5] [2]. What remains open in public reporting is the adjudication of many of the high‑level defendants named in the New York superseding indictment and the full evidentiary record underlying prosecutors’ expansive assertions about decades‑long state complicity [5] [1].