A federal judge has awarded $314 million in damages to three Americans who were imprisoned and allegedly tortured by what he described as a “criminal enterprise” led by former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Jerrel Kenemore, Jason Saad and Edgar Marval were released by Maduro’s government in 2023 as part of a prisoner swap with the Biden administration that secured the freedom of Alex Saab, a businessman accused by U.S. officials of acting as a close financial ally of Maduro and who had been facing money laundering charges in the U.S.
The three men sued several senior Venezuelan officials last year, including acting President Delcy Rodríguez, alleging they endured physical and psychological torture while detained, including electrocution, stress positions and beatings. They said the abuse continues to cause lasting trauma for them and their families.
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court are also examining similar allegations.
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 by 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.
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