EXCLUSIVE: Families of former American hostages sue Venezuela’s state oil giant alleging they funded kidnap, torture of US citizens

The 99-page complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida, names Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA) and its subsidiary Corporación Venezolana del Petróleo (CVP) as defendants. The plaintiffs allege the companies provided funding, money laundering services, aircraft, and logistical support to a Maduro-linked criminal network involving Venezuelan officials and the Cartel de los Soles. The lawsuit brings allegations under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act, the Florida Anti-Terrorism Act, RICO, and civil conspiracy statutes.

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Holt became internationally known after being imprisoned in Venezuela for nearly two years. According to the complaint, Holt traveled to Venezuela in 2016 to marry Venezuelan citizen Thamara Caleño. The couple married on June 16, 2016, and settled into her apartment in Ciudad Caribia, a government housing complex outside Caracas.

Just weeks later, Venezuelan authorities allegedly raided the apartment and planted a grenade in Holt's suitcase before accusing him of participating in a CIA-backed plot against the Maduro government. According to the lawsuit, Holt and his wife were arrested and taken to El Helicoide, one of Venezuela's most notorious detention facilities.

The complaint alleges that Thamara Holt was blindfolded, electrocuted with a taser, physically abused, and pressured to sign a confession claiming her husband was part of an espionage operation.

Joshua Holt allegedly endured solitary confinement in a cramped cell infested with cockroaches and flies, without adequate medical care. According to the lawsuit, he suffered kidney stones, bronchitis, scabies, hemorrhoids, severe weight loss, and other ailments while imprisoned. The complaint says Holt lost approximately 60 pounds during the first six months of his detention.

The Holts were held for 695 days before being released in May 2018. The complaint argues that the Maduro regime's ability to carry out hostage-taking and political repression was supported by a broader financial and logistical network allegedly involving PDVSA and CVP.

Another plaintiff is Carlos Marrón, a Miami businessman who operated DolarPro.com, a website that published Venezuela's true free-market exchange rate. According to the lawsuit, the site became a target of the Maduro regime because it exposed economic realities that contradicted official government figures and threatened lucrative currency manipulation schemes benefiting regime insiders.

In April 2018, according to the complaint, Venezuelan military intelligence agents with DGCIM kidnapped Marrón's elderly father. The lawsuit alleges the detention was intended to lure Marrón back to Venezuela from Miami. When Marrón arrived at Caracas' Simón Bolívar International Airport, DGCIM agents were allegedly waiting for him. He was arrested and taken into custody. The complaint alleges Marrón was held for 21 months and subjected to repeated torture. Among other things, DGCIM agents allegedly beat him with metal rebar, repeatedly waterboarded him, placed a hood filled with tear gas over his head, and confined him in filthy cells without running water or basic sanitation.

According to the lawsuit, Marrón lost 66 pounds during his imprisonment. The complaint further alleges that Venezuelan authorities forced Marrón to surrender passwords to bank accounts he maintained in the United States, including accounts at Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citibank. The lawsuit claims agents drained funds from those accounts and converted some of the money into cryptocurrency.

Meanwhile, according to the complaint, DGCIM agents repeatedly called Marrón's wife, Maria Alejandra Alfonzo, at her home in Coral Gables, Florida, threatening to injure or kill her husband unless she made payments. The lawsuit alleges she ultimately paid approximately $150,000 to the extortionists.

At one point, according to the complaint, Alfonzo received photographs of her children taken outside their Coral Gables home. She interpreted the images as a warning from Venezuelan authorities to remain silent.

Marrón was released from detention in January 2020 but allegedly remained trapped in Venezuela without a passport. The complaint says he eventually escaped through Colombia and returned to the United States with assistance from the US State Department. The lawsuit also alleges Marrón's businesses collapsed during his captivity, including DolarPro.com and a Miami-based ticketing business that had recently secured a $7 million Cirque du Soleil contract.

The plaintiffs contend that neither the Holt case nor the Marrón case were isolated incidents. Instead, they argue that PDVSA and CVP helped sustain the Maduro regime's ability to engage in hostage-taking, torture, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, and political repression through a network of corruption and illicit financing.

The complaint accuses PDVSA of acting as a financial engine for the regime, alleging the state oil giant used company aircraft in hostage-related operations, facilitated money laundering, and helped generate illicit revenue streams that benefited Maduro allies and the Cartel de los Soles. The plaintiffs are seeking compensatory damages, treble damages where available, attorneys' fees, and other relief.

The lawsuit follows earlier legal victories by both families. In 2024, a federal judge awarded Carlos Marrón and his family more than $153 million in damages in a separate lawsuit against Maduro and other Venezuelan officials stemming from his imprisonment and torture. Holt has also previously pursued civil litigation against Maduro and members of the Venezuelan regime over his detention.

Holt et al v. PDVSA and CVP by thehoffather