By LCN Wire
A Homeland Security Task Force arrested Alvaro Pulido Vargas, a Colombian national also known as German Enrique Rubio Salas, 62, the Justice Department announced on Sunday 11 October 2026. He faces two indictments in the Southern District of Florida, returned seven years apart.
One of those indictments runs through the Caribbean. Two of the four wire transfers it charges left accounts in Antigua and Barbuda, and approximately US$33,750,295 reached an Antiguan account from a Venezuelan state fund. The indictment never names the bank, as reported in A US Indictment Traces US$33.75 Million of Venezuelan State Money Through Antigua.
What did the Justice Department announce?
Charges in two cases, one from July 2019 and one from October 2021.
Pulido Vargas was indicted in the Southern District of Florida in July 2019 and again in October 2021, in separate schemes the department describes as laundering the proceeds of bribery and fraud involving officials of the Venezuelan government. The department puts the laundering across both at more than US$2 billion.
The 2021 case concerns approximately US$1.6 billion received from the Venezuelan government, of which approximately US$180 million was transferred through or to the United States, including to bank accounts in the Southern District of Florida. The 2019 case concerns approximately US$350 million.
| The two cases | Indicted | Amount alleged | Counts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venezuelan government funds, 2021 | October 2021 | US$1.6bn received, about US$180m through or to the US | Conspiracy, plus four counts of money laundering, 20 years maximum each |
| Earlier scheme, 2019 | July 2019 | US$350m | Conspiracy, plus seven counts of money laundering |
Source: United States Department of Justice press release, 11 October 2026, Office of Public Affairs and the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida. Charges are allegations and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The announcement names Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division, United States Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, Drug Enforcement Administration Administrator Terrance Cole, and Homeland Security Investigations Acting Executive Associate Director John A. Condon. The investigation is credited to the DEA Miami Field Division, FBI Miami and HSI Miami.
Where was he before this?
In Venezuelan custody, according to Colombian and regional reporting rather than the Justice Department.
The department's announcement says where he will appear and does not say where he was brought from. Noticias RCN and Asuntos Legales, both of Colombia, report that he was transferred from Venezuela, where he had been held since 2023, and name El Rodeo I as the prison. The reported basis for that detention is the PDVSA-Cripto corruption investigation, a Venezuelan matter separate from the United States charges.
On the public record this newspaper can find, no United States government statement describes the transfer or the arrangement behind it.
Why does this matter to the Caribbean?
Because the Antiguan leg of the 2021 indictment is now attached to a live prosecution.
The US$33,750,295 traced through Antigua and Barbuda, about US$33.75 million, sits inside the approximately US$180 million the department says moved through or to the United States. Until this week that money sat in a charging document against a man outside American custody. It is now part of a case with a defendant who appeared before a judge in the Southern District of Florida on 13 October 2026.
The bank is still unnamed. An indictment is not required to name the institutions through which charged funds passed, and this one does not. Nothing in the Justice Department's announcement of the arrest names it either.
Antigua and Barbuda's exposure to correspondent banking decisions taken in the United States was examined in After the Jenec Ruling, the World Disagrees on What Comes Next. The standard a United States bank must apply to every foreign financial institution it serves was examined this week in There Is One Correspondent Banking Rule.
What the title card shows
Every data point on the article's title card, in text.
- US$33,750,295. The sum the 2021 indictment says reached an Antiguan account from a Venezuelan state fund.
- 2 of 4. The charged wire transfers in the 2021 indictment that left accounts in Antigua and Barbuda.
- US$2 billion. What the Justice Department says was laundered across both indictments.
- 13 October 2026. The date of the initial appearance in the Southern District of Florida, two days after the arrest was announced.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Alvaro Pulido Vargas?
A 62-year-old Colombian national, also known as German Enrique Rubio Salas, indicted in the Southern District of Florida in July 2019 and again in October 2021 over alleged laundering of the proceeds of bribery and fraud involving Venezuelan government officials. The charges are allegations and he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
What is the Antigua connection?
The 2021 indictment charges four wire transfers, two of which left accounts in Antigua and Barbuda, and records approximately US$33,750,295 reaching an Antiguan account from a Venezuelan state fund. The indictment does not name the bank.
How much money is alleged in total?
The Justice Department puts the laundering across both indictments at more than US$2 billion: approximately US$1.6 billion in the 2021 case, of which about US$180 million moved through or to the United States, and approximately US$350 million in the 2019 case.
How did he come into United States custody?
The Justice Department's announcement does not say. Noticias RCN and Asuntos Legales of Colombia report a transfer from Venezuela, where they say he had been held at El Rodeo I since 2023 in connection with the PDVSA-Cripto investigation.