Reuters reported that Venezuelan billionaire Alejandro Betancourt, who until recently was a target of U.S. money-laundering investigations, is now Washington’s key partner in a long-term oil deal with Caracas. He helped broker the Trump administration’s arrangement, which gives the United States access to about one-fifth of Venezuela’s crude reserves for decades, Reuters reported.
Under the deal announced last week, the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital takes a 35 percent stake in North American Blue Energy Partners, or NABEP, the company Betancourt runs and a known crude producer in Venezuela. The State Department receives the right to buy 20 percent of NABEP’s oil at cost and preferential access to the remaining 80 percent of output, according to that announcement.
Four people familiar with U.S. policy in Venezuela told Reuters that Betancourt was key to American strategy and planning ahead of the January 3 operation that removed former President Nicolas Maduro from power. Maduro was flown to New York to face drug-trafficking charges, which he denies.
Florida prosecutors paused a money-laundering inquiry earlier this year
A U.S. official who declined to be named told Reuters that most of Betancourt’s legal challenges were nearly a decade old and that he currently has no legal problems in the United States. The official said NABEP’s record of pumping oil in Venezuela made Betancourt the best partner to help boost output under the arrangement.
Reuters said it could not determine precisely when U.S. federal prosecutors paused their investigation into Betancourt or whether the pause came in exchange for his cooperation with the Trump administration.
Sarah Chouraqui, NABEP’s lawyer, said Betancourt had a strong record of operating in complex energy markets. “The allegations in question have been examined extensively by authorities in multiple jurisdictions, and no charges have been brought against him,” she said in an email.
Four people who spoke on condition of anonymity said Betancourt provided information in the months before Maduro’s capture that helped enforce a U.S. naval blockade targeting sanctioned oil tankers.
That effort led to the seizure or interdiction of more than a dozen vessels, they said. He also facilitated negotiations with officials, including Delcy Rodriguez, who became interim president after Maduro’s capture, those people said. The Venezuelan government did not respond to requests for comment.
Seven sources said Betancourt’s role as a key intermediary continued after Maduro’s removal, helping broker oil deals and other partnerships and assisting communications between Washington and Caracas.
Vessel monitoring data and six people with knowledge of the negotiations said he helped broker a key oil trading agreement in January that has led to the export of more than 135 million barrels of crude and fuel to the United States, Europe, India and the Caribbean so far. That is about half of all oil exports through the end of August, Reuters reported. Reuters said it could not determine his exact role in the discussions.
Two people familiar with the matter said Betancourt has also popped in on meetings at Venezuela’s Miraflores presidential palace. Wright told reporters that Betancourt was also at Miraflores during this week’s visit by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, though Betancourt did not appear with Wright and Rodriguez at a signing ceremony for oil deals.
Reuters reported that Betancourt has been investigated in the United States, Spain and Switzerland but never indicted. Earlier this year, U.S. federal prosecutors in Florida paused their investigation into Betancourt in connection with an alleged plan that involved embezzling over $1 billion from Venezuela’s state-owned oil company PDVSA and laundering it through real estate in Miami and bank accounts in Malta and Switzerland.
Two of those people said U.S. prosecutors had been subsequently discouraged by supervisors from investigating Betancourt further. Four people familiar with the case said prosecutors on the case were not given a rationale.
Four people familiar with the matter said that after the investigation stalled, U.S. officials pressured the Swiss government to ease its inquiries into the tycoon. The sources said Switzerland, which was also investigating Betancourt for money-laundering, dropped its request to extradite him from the United Kingdom in May.
The Zurich Public Prosecutor’s Office said the case against Betancourt was still proceeding. “The extradition request was withdrawn because of particular aspects of UK extradition law, which we cannot discuss in detail,” the office said. “This step concerns only the extradition proceedings in the UK. The criminal proceedings against the accused are otherwise unaffected and will continue.”
Mark Pieth, a Swiss legal scholar and anti-corruption expert, said the withdrawal was unusual. “You would not do that if the case is continuing,” he said. The United Kingdom’s Home Office declined to comment.
Reuters reported that Betancourt is a prominent member of the so-called Bolichicos, a younger generation of business people who amassed fortunes during the administration of former Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. Washington’s influence over Venezuela’s oil sector has been a recurring theme, as a report detailed how Senator Marco Rubio reportedly controls the country’s oil finances and cabinet picks.
His company, Derwick Associates, won roughly $2 billion in government contracts to build power plants during the country’s electricity crisis in the 2010s, some without competitive bidding, despite having little construction experience.
Government data later showed many of the plants operated at a fraction of their intended capacity or not at all. Betancourt and Derwick have repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said the facilities were completed and that later failures resulted from mismanagement by state authorities. Rodriguez told a press conference on Wednesday that all legal proceedings against Betancourt’s companies in Venezuela were dismissed years ago.
Betancourt entered into a partnership with state-controlled company PDVSA in 2012 to operate mature fields in western Venezuela. Those fields would eventually become the core production of NABEP, which Betancourt co-founded with Florida billionaire Harry Sargeant in April 2024. Sargeant sold his shares in NABEP last month.
Mauricio Claver-Carone, a Miami businessman and former Trump administration adviser, told Reuters last month that Betancourt is a useful intermediary between the Trump administration and Rodriguez because he understands the oil business in both countries. Such skepticism about the administration’s Venezuela strategy is not new, as Trump promised firms would rapidly rebuild Venezuela’s oil industry, but the deal took months to finalize.
He added that Betancourt had been helpful to the first Trump administration. Several former U.S. intelligence officials, prosecutors and diplomats privately expressed concern regarding Betancourt’s influence on U.S. policy because of the previous investigation in the United States and the ongoing investigation in Switzerland, as well as his proximity to high-ranking officials from the former Chavez and Maduro governments.
One former prosecutor with knowledge of the situation said federal prosecutors are “scratching their heads.” Six sources said that before the Miami-based investigation into Betancourt was put on hold, he had been identified as an unnamed unindicted co-conspirator in an alleged plan by former Venezuelan energy officials and their associates to launder more than $1 billion misappropriated from PDVSA.
Ten people have been indicted since 2018. Spanish newspaper El Pais reported that authorities in Spain launched a new investigation into Betancourt for money laundering last year involving $4 billion allegedly embezzled from PDVSA. Reuters was unable to determine if he remained under investigation. Spain’s National Court and the Venezuelan state oil company did not respond to requests for comment.
Flight manifests seen by Reuters showed that once he was free to leave the U.K., Betancourt traveled to Venezuela in late June and again in July, both times departing from West Palm Beach, Florida. Betancourt’s lawyer did not comment on his travel.
Published: Sep 6, 2026 01:00 pm