What documented evidence exists of Venezuelan government payments to U.S. politicians or officials?

1. The Carvajal allegation: a dramatic claim, thin on public paperwork

Hugo Carvajal, the former Venezuelan head of military intelligence who pleaded guilty in U.S. courts to narcotics and related offenses, released a written allegation asserting that Venezuelan authorities paid U.S. diplomats and CIA officers to assist Chávez and Maduro and that some of those Americans became “career politicians,” but the letter as reported does not present authenticated documentation naming U.S. senators or federal lawmakers or produce bank records tying specific payments to named U.S. officials ^{[1] [2] [3]}.

2. Independent fact‑checks and reporting find no verified “Venezuela list”

Independent fact‑checking organizations and reporters who reviewed the social media surge around a purported “Venezuela list” traced the viral claims to unverified posts and could not locate a released, authenticated list naming U.S. politicians; Snopes specifically reported no evidence that Carvajal had released such a list and flagged the social posts as unsupported by documentation ^{[3] [4]}.

3. What prosecutors and official indictments show — illicit finance, front companies, and drug trafficking, not payments to U.S. lawmakers

U.S. criminal cases and related public statements outline substantial allegations that Venezuela’s leadership used front companies and illicit networks to conceal drug‑trafficking and corrupt financial flows, and the U.S. government has pursued indictments and sanctions tied to those schemes; those official actions document alleged criminal enterprises and transactional concealment but, in the public record consulted here, do not present publicly available evidence of payments to named U.S. politicians ^{[5] [6] [7]}.

4. Sanctions and prior findings show state corruption and international payouts, but not U.S. politician payoffs

U.S. treasury and sanctions records, and investigative reporting about Petrocaribe and other Venezuela diplomacy, document that Venezuelan officials spent oil and resources to cultivate influence abroad and that some Venezuelan officials were sanctioned for aiding illicit actors, which demonstrates state‑level patronage and corruption patterns; however, those records and studies cited do not provide documented instances of the Venezuelan government making traceable payments to U.S. elected officials ^[8].

5. Limits of the public record and plausible reasons evidence could be absent or classified

A separate constraint is that high‑level intelligence, grand jury materials, or classified counter‑intelligence files that might reveal clandestine payments — if they exist — would likely be withheld from public indictments or press reporting; reporting on the U.S. criminal case against Maduro and on intelligence activity notes that much evidence in such cases can remain confidential, so the absence of public documentation does not prove no clandestine payments ever occurred, only that they are not documented in the public sources reviewed here ^{[6] [9]}.

6. Competing narratives, incentives and why claims spread

The allegations have become political ammunition: Carvajal’s letter bolsters prosecutors and critics of the Maduro regime while also fitting narratives advanced on social media and by partisan actors; fact‑checkers warn that sensational claims — like a downloadable list of U.S. politicians receiving “millions” — circulated without documentary proof, and Venezuelan authorities predictably deny or denounce U.S. charges as politically motivated, underscoring conflicting incentives among sources ^{[1] [3] [5]}.

Conclusion: the publicly documented record in these sources contains credible allegations that Venezuela’s government engaged in large‑scale illicit finance, influence operations, and payments abroad, and it contains an unverified claim by a cooperating former intelligence chief alleging payments to U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers, but it does not contain authenticated, publicly available evidence proving that the Venezuelan government made direct payments to named U.S. politicians or officials ^{[1] [3] [5] [6]}.