Has Alex Nain Saab Moran, alleged to be Venezuela's biggest money launderer, entered a plea of guilty ? A close examination of the case docket in United States vs. Saab Moran (19-cr-20450-Scola) reveals several sealed court filings recently, some of which were not even listed by docket number. Given that he is the only defendant listed in the case, and no superseding indictment has been filed, these filings must involve Saab in some way.
Saab Moran has an upcoming hearing on February 16, to "select a trial date." It may be that the US Attorney chooses to keep the fact that he has pled out from other individuals against whom Saab Moran has given evidence as a cooperating witness, so that they may possibly be taken into custody, preventing their flight to avoid prosecution.
Named as possible targets that Saab could testify against include Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, and several Venezuelan cabinet-level officials, as well as a number of general officers in the Venezuela Army.
There have been multiple rumors that Saab, whilst still in custody in Cape Verde, cut a deal, resulting in only a single count remaining in his case, but these stories have never been confirmed. All the charges against him, save one, Money Laundering Conspiracy, were dropped prior to his extradition. Was this part of the deal ? Was the US Government explanation, that it was done to satisfy Cape Verde officials, a cover for what was really going on ?
In any event, we shall most likely see on the 16th of February whether he is going to trial or not.
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