Maduro ally Alex Saab expected to plead guilty in federal money laundering case

MIAMI (AP) — A close ally of ousted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is expected to plead guilty Tuesday in a federal case that accused him of bribing officials to win lucrative contracts to import food at a time of widespread hardship in the South American country.

Alex Saab was deported in May by Venezuela's acting President Delcy Rodriguez in response to pressure from the United States, which has been investigating the Colombian-born businessman for more than a decade. He was charged with a single count of money laundering tied to an alleged conspiracy to create fake companies, falsify shipping records and skim from government contracts to import food from Colombia and Mexico.