Federal judge awards $314 million to 3 Americans held and allegedly tortured in Venezuela

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge has awarded $314 million in damages to three Americans who were jailed and allegedly tortured by what he called a “criminal enterprise” led by former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro before the men were freed in a swap for a close Maduro ally imprisoned in the U.S.

Maduro’s government in 2023 freed Jerrel Kenemore, Jason Saad and Edgar Marval after months in prison as part of an exchange secretly negotiated with the Biden administration for Alex Saab, a businessman long described by U.S. officials as Maduro’s bag man and who had been awaiting trial in the U.S. on money laundering charges.

Last year, the three Americans sued several top Venezuelan officials, including now acting President Delcy Rodríguez, claiming they were subjected to physical and psychological torture — electrocution, stress positions and beatings — that continues to inflict anguish and trauma on them and their families today. Similar allegations of abuse are also being investigated by prosecutors at the International Criminal Court.

Judge Darrin P. Gayles in Miami issued a default judgment Tuesday against Maduro, Saab and five other individual defendants as well as the “Cartel of the Suns,” a purported drug-smuggling ring involving top military officials, for failing to respond to the lawsuit. Rodríguez was not included in the ruling after lawyers for her entered an appearance in April seeking to dismiss the complaint, arguing that as the duly recognized head of state she is immune from civil action in the U.S., a contention plaintiffs dispute.

The case is the largest judgment to date amid a slew of lawsuits filed for Americans imprisoned in Venezuela. All sought damages under a little-used federal law, the Anti-Terrorism Act, that allows American victims of foreign terror groups to seize the assets of their victimizers.

“The kidnappings,” Judge Gayles wrote in his 19-page ruling, were just one of many crimes “committed in order to support Maduro’s dictatorial rule over Venezuela, which in turn allowed the Maduro Criminal Conspiracy to earn ill-gotten gains.”

A lawyer for Saab, who is once again in U.S. custody facing new charges after Rodríguez handed him over to U.S. authorities in May, declined to comment. Lawyers for Rodríguez didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Each of the plaintiffs arrived in Venezuela unsuspecting they would be accused of spying and used as bargaining chips in Venezuela’s negotiations with the U.S.

Kenemore, who spent 643 days in jail, was a computer professional from Fort Worth, Texas, who had been living in neighboring Colombia with a Venezuelan woman he met online when both were getting over divorces. In 2022, he was abducted by armed gunmen near the border and later handed over to Venezuelan authorities and immediately imprisoned, according to the complaint.

Saad, a native of Alabama, had been living in Venezuela working in construction for several years at the time of his arrest, according to the complaint. Together with Marval, who owned a company in Florida and did business Venezuela, all were held by Venezuela’s feared military intelligence police.

The Trump administration labeled the “ Cartel of the Suns” a foreign terrorist organization ahead of a massive military deployment in the Caribbean that resulted in Maduro’s capture in January to face drug trafficking charges in New York.

The former president has denied any wrongdoing and some observers doubt that corruption that has long festered inside Venezuela’s barracks has led to the creation of a cohesive drug smuggling group that functions like other Latin American cartels.