US veteran flees ahead of US trial over failed 2020 Maduro ouster plot
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Defendant Jordan Goudreau claimed responsibility in 2020 for a maritime raid into Venezuela, launched from Colombia, that left eight people dead and more than a dozen in custody.
PHOTO: FBI
- Jordan Goudreau, a US military veteran, has absconded while awaiting trial in the US for arms export violations, linked to a failed 2020 Venezuelan incursion.
- Goudreau's lawyer claims ignorance of his whereabouts. Prosecutors seek forfeiture of his US$2 million bail after his failure to appear in court.
- Goudreau previously claimed responsibility for the 2020 maritime raid into Venezuela. He was arrested in the US in 2024 on related charges.
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NEW YORK - A US military veteran awaiting trial on US charges concerning a failed May 2020 armed incursion to oust now-jailed Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has absconded and is a fugitive, federal prosecutors said on March 13.
Ms Marissel Descalzo, a lawyer for the defendant Jordan Goudreau, said, “We do not know where he is.”
Goudreau, 49, was charged in 2024 with violating US arms export control laws by conspiring to ship weapons to Colombia without the required US export licences.
He pleaded not guilty and had been scheduled to go on trial in June in Tampa, Florida.
In a court filing on March 13, prosecutors with the Tampa US Attorney’s office asked a federal judge to declare Goudreau’s US$2 million (S$2.5 million) bail forfeited and enter a judgment against him in that amount.
Goudreau, a special forces veteran who ran Florida-based security firm Silvercorp USA, claimed responsibility in 2020 for a maritime raid into Venezuela, launched from Colombia, that left eight people dead and more than a dozen in custody.
He was arrested in the US in 2024.
The failed 2020 raid came less than two months after the US unveiled a drug trafficking indictment against Maduro and announced a US$15 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
In January, the US military captured Maduro in a dramatic overnight raid on his Caracas home and brought him to New York to face the charges.
He has pleaded not guilty. REUTERS
