US Government Seizes Maduro's Plane

Feds say it was illegally smuggled out of US
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Sep 2, 2024 3:55 PM CDT
US Government Seizes Maduro's Plane
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro addresses government loyalists in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024.   (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

The US government has seized a plane used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, citing violations of sanctions and export control laws, the Justice Department said Monday. US officials allege that the aircraft was illegally purchased through a shell company and smuggled out of the US, the AP reports. The plane was widely used by Maduro for foreign travel, including trips earlier this year to Guyana and Cuba. Officials tell CNN that the Falcon 900EX aircraft, considered Venezuela's equivalent to Air Force One, was flown to Florida on Monday after it was seized in the Dominican Republic.

"This sends a message all the way up to the top," a US official tells CNN. "Seizing the foreign head of state's plane is unheard-of for criminal matters. We're sending a clear message here that no one is above the law, no one is above the reach of US sanctions." Markenzy Lapointe, US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said authorities in the Dominican Republic provided "invaluable assistance" in organizing the seizure, the BBC reports.

US officials say associates of the Venezuelan leader used a Caribbean-based shell company to hide their involvement in the purchase of the plane, valued at the time at $13 million, from a company in Florida. The plane was exported from the US to Venezuela, through the Caribbean, in April 2023 in a transaction meant to circumvent an executive order that bars US persons from business transactions with the Maduro regime. (More Venezuela stories.)

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