U.S. Justice Department Indicts Former Spanish Prime Minister and Cuban Leader

U.S. citizens, over international waters. The same week, Spain’s National Court charged former Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero with money laundering, influence peddling, criminal organization and document forgery.

Investigators said Zapatero directed $62 million in pandemic bailout funds to a Venezuelan airline called Plus Ultra. The money allegedly reached associates of Venezuela’s interim leader Delcy Rodríguez. The Spanish charges followed the extradition of Alex Saab from Venezuela to the United States three days earlier.

U.S. banks. The Justice Department stated it worked with Spanish police on the Zapatero investigation. The Treasury Department has estimated that networks linked to Venezuela’s former leadership looted tens of billions of dollars, some held in accounts and property abroad.