U.S. District Judge Robert Scola, Southern District of Florida. Photo: Jill Kahn

Two Colombians were charged in a Miami federal indictment with using a Venezuela housing contract as a vehicle for bribery and $350 million in money laundering.

The U.S. government also issued sanctions Thursday against the defendants as well as three stepsons of Venezuela's embattled president Nicolas Maduro over another alleged fraud involving food-import contracts in the impoverished country.

Alex Saab Moran, 47, and Alvaro Pulido Vargas, 55, were charged with money laundering conspiracy and seven laundering counts under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. The case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Scola Jr. in Miami.

A U.S. Treasury Department release called Saab “a profiteer orchestrating a vast corruption network.”

Saab and Pulido secured a no-bid contract in 2011 for construction of low-income housing to be paid in U.S. dollars under the Venezuelan government-controlled currency exchange, the indictment said.

Saab and Pulido were accused of paying bribes and kickbacks to officials in the Venezuelan government, specifically in the national guard, the currency exchange administration and the customs and tax division.

The pair then submitted invoices for construction supply shipments to Venezuela even though they sent only one. Their allies in the Venezuelan government photographed the same shipment in different locations to make it seem like more was sent, the indictment said.

The indictment said three unnamed co-conspirators siphoned off $350 million that traveled from Venezuela to U.S. bank accounts and then abroad.

Separately, Saab and Pulido are part of a large group sanctioned for a bribery scheme in a food-for-the-poor program in Venezuela.

The Treasury Department said companies controlled by Saab paid kickbacks to Venezuelan government officials, including Maduro's three stepsons, for the contracts.

The stepsons are Walter, Yosser and Yoswal Gavidia Flores. They are commonly referred to as “Los Chamos,” colloquially translated as the boys.