The U.S. government has confiscated a luxury jet utilized by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which officials claim was unlawfully acquired through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States in violation of sanctions and export control laws. The Dassault Falcon 900EX was seized in the Dominican Republic and handed over to federal authorities in Florida, as announced by the Justice Department on Monday. The aircraft, registered to San Marino, was frequently used by Maduro for international travel, including trips to Guyana and Cuba. It was also involved in a December exchange on a Caribbean airstrip swapping several Americans jailed in Venezuela for a close ally of Maduro, Alex Saab.
State media footage from a December visit to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines shows Maduro, along with First Lady Cilia Flores and senior officials, disembarking the airplane for discussions over a territorial dispute with neighboring Guyana. The plane, previously owned by Lorida, Florida-based Six G Aviation, was exported to St. Vincent and the Grenadines in January 2023. Federal prosecutors have also seized multiple private jets belonging to high-ranking government officials and individuals who have been sanctioned or indicted in the U.S. The U.S. has sanctioned 55 Venezuelan-registered planes, predominantly owned by the state-owned oil company PDVSA, and has offered a $15 million reward for the arrest of Maduro on federal drug trafficking charges in New York.
This latest seizure follows the U.S. government’s previous confiscation of a Boeing 747-300 cargo plane transferred from Iran to a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned airlines in Argentina. The Venezuelan government’s centralized press office did not respond immediately to requests for comment. The article was initially reported from Mexico City and Miami.
