US releases ex-Green Beret linked to failed coup in Venezuela while he stands trial

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the release of a former U.S. Green Beret accused of taking part in a failed 2020 coup attempt against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, rejecting arguments that he would flee while awaiting trial on arms smuggling charges.

Jordan Goudreau was arrested in July following a four-year investigation into the coup attempt, which ended when Venezuelan security forces killed several fighters and two of Goudreau’s fellow U.S. Special Forces members were held in a Maduro government prison.

The plot, exposed by The Associated Press Two days before the raid, he was executed by a group of Venezuelan army deserters whom Goudreau allegedly helped arm and train in neighboring Colombia.

Goudreau immediately claimed responsibility for Operation Gideon — or Bay of Pigs, as the bloody fiasco came to be known — but said he had acted in concert with the Venezuelan opposition to protect democracy.

“If I were you, I would have fled before I was charged,” Judge Virginia Hernandez Covington said in ordering Goudreau’s release pending trial next month.

Goudreau, wearing leg shackles and dressed in orange, answered “no” several times when asked in court if he had ever been diagnosed with mental illnesses that would make him a danger to himself or others upon his release.

Although Goudreau, 48, has no criminal record and was awarded the Bronze Star three times in Iraq and Afghanistan, Assistant District Attorney Cherie Krigsman argued he was a flight risk, had a history of witness tampering and knowingly broke U.S. laws.

Krigsman said Goudreau fled to Mexico, where he remained for about a year, within days of learning he was under investigation. Before leaving the U.S., he conducted a series of Google searches that purportedly included “how to run and stay hidden from the feds” and “how to be a successful fugitive.”

Krigsman cited excerpts from a conversation Goudreau had with a confidential source in which he allegedly coached the witness to lie to investigators about some 60 AR-15 rifles seized by Colombian police on the way to clandestine camps where opponents of the Venezuelan government were trained.

Two of the automatic rifles bear traces of Goudreau’s DNA, while silencers, night-vision goggles and other defense equipment bear serial numbers matching those purchased by Goudreau and his Melbourne, Florida-based security company, Silvercorp. All required an export license, which Goudreau never had. Some of the weapons never arrived, prosecutors say, because a yacht sank in the middle of the Caribbean. Goudreau and an associate were rescued by a passing oil tanker.

“His meritorious service in the armed forces represents a stunning fall from grace,” Krigsman told the judge. He said Goudreau — born in Canada — was a “ghost,” trained by Special Forces to “stay invisible.”

Goudreau’s lawyer, Marissel Descalzo, said her client never went into hiding and was in constant contact with investigators through another lawyer representing him in the lawsuit, filed against a former adviser to the Venezuelan opposition leader who he says hired him to explore the possibility of a mercenary raid.

Ahead of an argument likely to be used at trial, he said secret evidence will show Goudreau was texting “high-level government officials” in the run-up to the raid, leading him to believe the U.S. government was backing his actions. While the administration of then-President Donald Trump made no secret of its desire to get rid of Maduro, there is no evidence that U.S. officials backed the invasion or the arms export, which was a violation of U.S. gun control laws.

Prosecutor Krigsman responded: “If he thought someone in the government had authorized his actions, why would he be doing these online searches on how to become a fugitive from justice?”

A Manhattan magistrate judge initially ordered Goudreau released in July, but the order was stayed pending a government appeal.

As a condition of his release, Goudreau — who has no home or property of his own other than a sailboat docked in Tampa — will be required to wear a tracking ankle bracelet. He will also be confined to the residence of a former Special Forces colleague in northern Florida.

The $2 million bail that guarantees his release is secured by an apartment owned by Jen Gatien, the filmmaker who directed the documentary “Men at War,” which its producers say is an inside look at Goudreau’s life as a fugitive after the failed coup.

If convicted, Goudreau could face between 10 and 20 years in prison.

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