I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 268
To increase the maximum reward amount for information leading to the
arrest and conviction of Nicola´s Maduro Moros to $100,000,000, which
shall be paid out by the Federal Government from all assets being
withheld from Nicola´s Maduro Moros, officials of the Maduro regime
and their co-conspirators.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY9, 2025
Mr. D
IAZ-BALART(for himself, Ms. WASSERMANSCHULTZ, Mr. SMITHof
New Jersey, Mr. G
IMENEZ, Ms. SALAZAR, and Mr. SOTO) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs
A BILL
To increase the maximum reward amount for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of Nicola´s Maduro
Moros to $100,000,000, which shall be paid out by the
Federal Government from all assets being withheld from
Nicola´s Maduro Moros, officials of the Maduro regime
and their co-conspirators.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Timely Op-4
portunities for Payment and Maximizing Awards for De-5
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•HR 268 IH
taining Unlawful Regime Officials Act of 2025’’ or the 1
‘‘STOP MADURO Act’’. 2
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 3
Congress finds the following: 4
(1) In 2020, the Trump administration charged 5
Venezuela regime leader Nicola´s Maduro Moros, 6
along with other regime officials with— 7
(A) participating in a narco-terrorism con-8
spiracy, which carries a 20-year mandatory 9
minimum sentence and a maximum sentence of 10
life in prison; 11
(B) conspiring to import cocaine into the 12
United States, which carries a 10-year manda-13
tory minimum sentence and a maximum sen-14
tence of life in prison; 15
(C) using and carrying machine guns and 16
destructive devices during, and in relation to, 17
and possessing machine guns and destructive 18
devices in furtherance of, the narco-terrorism 19
and cocaine-importation conspiracies, which 20
carries a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence 21
and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and 22
(D) conspiring to use and carry machine 23
guns and destructive devices during, and in re-24
lation to, and to possess machine guns and de-25
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structive devices in furtherance of, the narco- 1
terrorism and cocaine-importation conspiracies, 2
which carries a maximum sentence of life in 3
prison. 4
(2) On March 26, 2020, United States Attorney 5
Geoffrey S. Berman of the Southern District of New 6
York stated in a press release, ‘‘Today we announce 7
criminal charges against Nicola´s Maduro for run-8
ning, together with his top lieutenants, a narco-ter-9
rorism partnership with the FARC for the past 10
twenty years. The scope and magnitude of the drug 11
trafficking alleged was made possible only because 12
Maduro and others corrupted the institutions of 13
Venezuela and provided political and military protec-14
tion for the rampant narco-terrorism crimes de-15
scribed in our charges. As alleged, Maduro and the 16
other defendants expressly intended to flood the 17
United States with cocaine in order to undermine 18
the health and wellbeing of our nation. Maduro very 19
deliberately deployed cocaine as a weapon.’’. 20
(3) The press release included a statement from 21
United States Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan of 22
the Southern District of Florida, who stated, ‘‘In the 23
last couple of years, the US Attorney’s Office in 24
South Florida and its federal law enforcement part-25
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•HR 268 IH
ners have united to bring dozens of criminal charges 1
against high-level regime officials and co-conspira-2
tors resulting in seizures of approximately $450 mil-3
lion dollars.’’. 4
SEC. 3. INCREASING THE MAXIMUM REWARD AMOUNT FOR 5
INFORMATION LEADING TO THE ARREST AND 6
CONVICTION OF NICOLA
´
S MADURO MOROS 7
THROUGH THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE RE-8
WARDS PROGRAM. 9
(a) A
UTHORIZATION.—Notwithstanding section 10
36(e)(1) of the State Department Basic Authorities Act 11
of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708(e)(1)), the Secretary of State 12
may pay, to one or more individuals who furnish informa-13
tion described in section 36(b) of such Act that directly 14
leads to the arrest and conviction of Nicola´s Maduro 15
Moros, a reward of up to $100,000,000. 16
(b) S
OURCE OFFUNDS.—The payment authorized 17
under subsection (a) shall be derived exclusively from the 18
liquidation of assets being withheld from Nicola´s Maduro 19
Moros, officials of the Maduro regime, and their co-con-20
spirators by the President or by the Office of Foreign As-21
sets Control of the Department of the Treasury pursuant 22
to— 23
(1) the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation 24
Act (21 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.); 25
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•HR 268 IH
(2) section 5 of the Venezuela Defense of 1
Human Rights and Civil Society Act of 2014 (50 2
U.S.C. 1701 note); 3
(3) Executive Order 13692 (50 U.S.C. 1701 4
note; relating to blocking of property and suspending 5
entry of certain persons contributing to the situation 6
in Venezuela); 7
(4) Executive Order 13850 (relating to blocking 8
property of additional persons contributing to the 9
situation in Venezuela); 10
(5) Executive Order 13884 (50 U.S.C. 1701 11
note; relating to blocking property of the Govern-12
ment of Venezuela); or 13
(6) any other sanctions provision. 14
Æ
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