welcome back the United States has seized a plane belonging to Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro over alleged sanctions violations in a statement Monday attorney general Merrick Garland said quote the justice department seized an aircraft we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the US for use by Nicholas Maduro and his cronies the jet in question has been transported from the Dominican Republic to Florida BBS News correspondent Christian benavites joins us from Fort Lauderdale with more on this story uh Christian good to see you so we understand that multiple federal agencies were involved in this explain how this happened Chanel not just multiple federal agencies you've got agencies also internationally involved here to be able to get that plane here to Fort launderdale so according to officials that I spoke to what's very interesting about this is that this plane is essentially considered by all intents and purposes Venezuela's Air Force One this is how Nicholas Maduro got around in his State visits since May of 2023 the aircraft was purchased in late 2022 early 2023 according to us officials then beginning May of last year is when uh Maduro started using it uh regularly for his State visits uh officials worked with the Dominican Republic to be able to get the jet from the Dr to here let's take a listen to what the special agent in charge had to say about how this investigation unfolded we have a long-standing history of investigating the Corrupt Practices of the Maduro regime HSI and its Partners have already disrupted over two billion worth of assets we've indicted over 30 regime members Associates and facilitators so again we're always continuing to look at the opportunities in which the Maduro regime is continuing to facilitate its Corrupt Practices so look and there are multiple assets over the years that have been as the special agent in charge mentioned that have been seized by the US government from folks that belong to the Maduro regime Chanel and I just wonder you know to zoom out for a second here Christian where the relations with Venezuela stand right now and how might this impact that well look you'll recall that back in June there was uh the the that took place and to this to that end so far not just the us but multiple governments across the world have not sided with the Venezuelan government who said that uh Maduro won the elections in fact the US recognizes edmundo Gonzalez the opposition leader as the winner of those elections uh at this point the Venezuelan government just released a statement a few months a few moments ago essentially uh saying that what the US has done in this case is Criminal and that they'll figure out a way to respond uh accordingly that they said that there may be uh potential uh monetary damages involved here so this certainly doesn't help relations but at the end of the day there weren't there wasn't really much to build on because remember after those elections took place it's not that just the us but you had multiple go governments across Latin America across the world that rejected what the Venezuelan government called the results of that election saying that Maduro had won uh when there had been many questions about uh whether or not his government had tampered with the results of that election so what happens next in the investigation then Christian well look uh officials from the Department of Homeland Security said that this essentially becomes an asset forfeiture case so the plane will be liquidated and those funds will go into the federal funds for uh ass the federal asset forfeiture funds that the US uses