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Alvaro Pulido Vargas Reward Poster (Accessible – English) [182 KB]
Wanted Poster in English [390 KB]
Wanted Poster in Spanish [403 KB]

WANTED: ALVARO PULIDO VARGAS   REWARD OF UP TO $10 MILLION

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NAME: Alvaro Pulido Vargas
ALIASES: German Enrique Rubio Salas, “Cuchi”
DOB: December 10, 1963
POB: Bogota, Colombia
NATIONALITY: Colombia
CITIZENSHIP:  Colombia
HEIGHT: Unknown
WEIGHT: Unknown
HAIR COLOR: Black
EYE COLOR: Brown
SCARS, TATTOOS, OR MARKS: Unknown

Alvaro Pulido is a Colombian businessman believed to be living in Venezuela.  Beginning in 2015, Pulido and others worked to obtain or retain contracts to provide food to the people of the Republic of Venezuela.  Pulido and his co-conspirators allegedly marked-up the cost of producing the boxes of food in order to make a personal profit from their production.  From this cost mark-up, the conspirators could pay the bribes and kickbacks to those Venezuelan government officials who assisted them in obtaining the contract to produce the boxes and make millions of dollars in profit for themselves.   

In August 2021, Pulido and four others were charged by indictment in the Southern District of Florida with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and five four counts of laundering of monetary instruments.  These charges are associated with the alleged felony violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and offenses against a foreign nation, specifically Venezuela, involving bribery of a public official, and the misappropriation, theft, and embezzlement of public funds by and for the benefit of a public official, as provided by Title 18, U.S. Code, Section 1956(c)(7)(B)(iv). 

According to the indictment against Pulido, as the Republic of Venezuela’s shortage of U.S. dollars limited the country’s ability to pay foreign companies, including their ability to pay Pulido and others for the importation into and distribution of boxes of food in Venezuela, Pulido and a co-conspirator started a business to liquidate the country’s gold.  The monies obtained through the gold liquidation were then used to pay monies owed to foreign companies, including companies controlled by Pulido and a coconspirator.  Over $1.6 billion in funds were involved in the violations of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956 (money laundering), as alleged in the indictment against Pulido.   

The U.S. Department of State is offering a REWARD OF UP TO $10 MILLION for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Alvaro Pulido Vargas.   

If you have information, please contact the DEA at +1-305-780-3768 via telephone/text/ WhatsApp/ Telegram/Signal, or by email at DEAtipsVenezuela@dea.gov.  If you are located outside of the United States, please contact the nearest U.S. Embassy or Consulate.  If in the United States, please contact the local Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) office in your city.  

ALL IDENTITIES ARE KEPT STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL.   

Government officials and employees are not eligible for rewards. 

U.S. Department of State

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