US prosecutor in Miami targeting Venezuela graft is leaving

MIAMI — A federal prosecutor who has jailed some of Venezuela’s biggest crooks is stepping down, The Associated Press has learned, leaving a void that could dampen U.S. efforts to expose criminal activity in the South American country amid rising tensions with the Trump administration. In a one-two punch, the Trump administration last year sanctioned Saab on the same day that Nadler charged the businessman with money laundering in connection with an alleged bribery scheme to develop low-income housing for Venezuela’s government that was never built. Nadler’s boss, Ariana Fajardo-Orshan, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, created a special money laundering unit in March 2019 that focused on financial crimes, giving even more impetus to that effort. Dick Gregorie, the retired assistant U.S. attorney in Miami who indicted Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega in the 1980s, said Nadler is the nation’s most knowledgeable and experienced litigator working on Venezuela. “Nadler’s departure will certainly be felt.” Fajardo-Orshan’s wouldn’t confirm or deny Nadler’s plans to depart but reaffirmed the commitment to go after corrupt officials from Venezuela and elsewhere “who callously steal money from their own citizens, then try to hide it in U.S. banks and through U.S. real estate transactions.” “The experienced, talented, and committed prosecutors in our Money Laundering section work as a team to combat this illegal activity,” her office said in a statement.