119-hr268

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 268 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

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119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 268

 To 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.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 January 9, 2025

 Mr. Diaz-Balart (for himself, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Smith of New 
 Jersey, Mr. Gimenez, 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 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.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLES.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Securing Timely Opportunities for 
Payment and Maximizing Awards for Detaining Unlawful Regime Officials 
Act of 2025'' or the ``STOP MADURO Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

 Congress finds the following:

    (1) In 2020, the Trump administration charged Venezuela 
 regime leader Nicolas Maduro Moros, along with other regime 
 officials with--
        (A) participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy, 
 which carries a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence and 
 a maximum sentence of life in prison;
        (B) conspiring to import cocaine into the United 
 States, which carries a 10-year mandatory minimum 
 sentence and a maximum sentence of life in prison;
            (C) using and carrying machine guns and destructive 
 devices during, and in relation to, and possessing 
 machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, 
 the narco-terrorism and cocaine-importation 
 conspiracies, which carries a 30-year mandatory minimum 
 sentence and a maximum sentence of life in prison; and
            (D) conspiring to use and carry machine guns and 
 destructive devices during, and in relation to, and to 
 possess machine guns and destructive devices in 
 furtherance of, the narco-terrorism and cocaine-
 importation conspiracies, which carries a maximum 
 sentence of life in prison.

    (2) On March 26, 2020, United States Attorney Geoffrey S. 
 Berman of the Southern District of New York stated in a press 
 release, ``Today we announce criminal charges against Nicolas 
 Maduro for running, together with his top lieutenants, a narco-
 terrorism partnership with the FARC for the past twenty years. 
 The scope and magnitude of the drug trafficking alleged was 
 made possible only because Maduro and others corrupted the 
 institutions of Venezuela and provided political and military 
 protection for the rampant narco-terrorism crimes described in 
 our charges. As alleged, Maduro and the other defendants 
 expressly intended to flood the United States with cocaine in 
 order to undermine the health and wellbeing of our nation. 
 Maduro very deliberately deployed cocaine as a weapon.''.

    (3) The press release included a statement from United 
 States Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan of the Southern District 
 of Florida, who stated, ``In the last couple of years, the US 
 Attorney's Office in South Florida and its federal law 
 enforcement partners have united to bring dozens of criminal 
 charges against high-level regime officials and co-conspirators 
 resulting in seizures of approximately $450 million dollars.''.

SEC. 3. INCREASING THE MAXIMUM REWARD AMOUNT FOR INFORMATION LEADING TO 
 THE ARREST AND CONVICTION OF NICOLAS MADURO MOROS THROUGH 
 THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE REWARDS PROGRAM.

    (a) Authorization.--Notwithstanding 

section 36

    (e)

    (1) of the State 
Department Basic Authorities Act of 1956 (22 U.S.C. 2708

    (e)

    (1) ), the 
Secretary of State may pay, to one or more individuals who furnish 
information described in 

section 36

    (b) of such Act that directly leads 
to the arrest and conviction of Nicolas Maduro Moros, a reward of up to 
$100,000,000.

    (b) Source of Funds.--The payment authorized under subsection

    (a) shall be derived exclusively from the liquidation of assets being 
withheld from Nicolas Maduro Moros, officials of the Maduro regime, and 
their co-conspirators by the President or by the Office of Foreign 
Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury pursuant to--

    (1) the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act (21 
 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.);

    (2) section 5 of the Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and 
 Civil Society Act of 2014 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note);

    (3) Executive Order 13692 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to 
 blocking of property and suspending entry of certain persons 
 contributing to the situation in Venezuela);

    (4) Executive Order 13850 (relating to blocking property of 
 additional persons contributing to the situation in Venezuela);

    (5) Executive Order 13884 (50 U.S.C. 1701 note; relating to 
 blocking property of the Government of Venezuela); or

    (6) any other sanctions provision.
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