Washington, United States. The Trump administration is building a legal case against Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodriguez, including preparing a draft criminal indictment, according to four people familiar with the matter. The sources said the effort is part of broader steps aimed at strengthening U.S. leverage with Caracas.
Draft charges and scope of investigation
Federal prosecutors have assembled possible corruption and money laundering charges and have communicated to Rodriguez that she risks prosecution unless she continues to comply with Trump’s demands following the U.S. ouster of former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January, the sources said.
Reuters said it has not seen the charges in written form but spoke with four people briefed on the matter. Reuters reported that the draft indictment concerns alleged money laundering and corruption, and that the sources said Rodriguez had been made aware of it verbally.
The sources said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami is preparing the draft charges and that the document has been evolving over the past two months. Three sources said the probe focuses on Rodriguez’s alleged involvement in laundering funds from Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, while two sources said the activities under review cover the period between 2021 and 2025.
Official responses
The Department of Justice declined to comment. After a summary of the report was published on the Reuters World News morning podcast, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche wrote on X, “completely FALSE from @reuters. Not sure how such fake news makes its way to publication.”
In a statement, Reuters said: “We stand by our reporting that the Department of Justice is preparing an indictment against Delcy Rodriguez, the new president of Venezuela.”
The White House and the U.S. State Department did not respond to Reuters’ questions.
Additional U.S. requests to Caracas
Separately from the draft indictment, U.S. officials have presented Rodriguez with a list of at least seven former high-level party officials, associates and their family members whom the United States wants her to arrest or keep in Venezuela’s custody for potential extradition, the four sources said. The list was first reported by Spain’s ABC newspaper.
Backdrop in Venezuela and U.S. public messaging
The sources said Rodriguez is facing the threat two months after taking power following a raid by U.S. special forces that captured Maduro and took him to New York for trial on charges of narcoterrorism and cocaine trafficking. Maduro pleaded not guilty and is being held in New York pending trial.
In public, Trump has praised Rodriguez for cooperating with the United States and described Venezuela as “our new friend and partner” in his annual State of the Union address.
What impact do you think the reported U.S. legal pressure could have on Venezuela’s leadership?