Federal prosecutors in South Florida allege that Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate secretly bribed Venezuelan elections chief Tibisay Lucena Ramírez by transferring control of a luxury home in Caracas to her in 2019. The alleged bribe was part of an effort to secure Lucena’s help in a commercial dispute with the Venezuelan government following Smartmatic’s public accusation that the Maduro government committed election fraud in 2017. That accusation led the company to halt its operations in the country.
According to court filings, Piñate used a foreign shell company to transfer the home through a third party to Lucena while concealing its true purpose. Prosecutors say encrypted messages and witness testimony show the transfer was intended as compensation for political favors. The Justice Department plans to use the Caracas transaction under Rule 404(b) to show Piñate’s alleged pattern of bribing officials to secure contracts.
The new allegations surface as Piñate faces separate charges tied to a $1 million bribery scheme in the Philippines, where he is accused of inflating voting machine prices and funneling kickbacks to former elections chief Juan Andrés Donato Bautista. Prosecutors say the funds were laundered through fake contracts, secret accounts, and international financial institutions. Piñate faces one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international money laundering, each carrying a potential 20-year prison sentence.
