Sponsors (5)
The bill uses seized Maduro‑regime assets to fund large rewards that can strengthen enforcement and incentivize information leading to accountability, but it risks diplomatic complications, legal disputes, and tradeoffs in how seized assets are allocated (including potential reductions in funds for victims).
People who provide actionable information could receive up to $100,000,000, creating a powerful incentive to help bring Nicolás Maduro and associates to justice and strengthening U.S. law‑enforcement and sanctions efforts against transnational corruption and narcotics networks.
Reward payments are limited to proceeds from seized Maduro‑regime assets, avoiding new appropriations or direct taxpayer outlays for the program.
Public DOJ findings and reported large seizures (roughly $450 million) document disruption of illicit funds and support U.S. accountability efforts, which can deter criminal networks and bolster international enforcement credibility.
Reiterating and publicizing criminal findings about a foreign leader could complicate diplomacy and negotiations with Venezuela, narrowing U.S. foreign policy options and creating friction with foreign counterparts.
Liquidating seized assets to pay large rewards could reduce funds available for victim compensation or other sanctions‑related uses tied to those assets.
Large reward payouts and authority to use seized foreign assets could be legally or politically contested, creating litigation, diplomatic disputes, asset‑management complexity, and payment delays that consume government time and resources.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes up to $100 million in rewards—paid from liquidated Maduro-related seized assets—for information leading to Maduro's arrest and conviction.
Official title: Increase the maximum reward amount for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Nicolas Maduro Moros to $100,000,000, which shall be paid out by the Federal Government from all assets being withheld from Nicolas Maduro Moros, officials of the Maduro regime and their co-conspirators.
Introduced January 9, 2025 by Richard Lynn Scott · Last progress January 9, 2025
Authorizes the Secretary of State to pay up to $100 million in rewards to individuals whose information directly leads to the arrest and conviction of Nicolás Maduro, with payments to be funded only from liquidation of assets seized or withheld from Maduro, his regime officials, and co-conspirators under existing sanctions and narcotics authorities. The bill waives the usual statutory restriction that limits such payments from being made from those seized assets, and ties the reward authority specifically to information provided under the rewards statute for international narcotics and related crimes.