A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida has indicted three executives from election voting machine provider Smartmatic, including President Roger Pinate, and a former Chairman of the Commission on Elections of the Philippines. They are accused of facilitating over $1 million in bribes to secure and maintain contracts for voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippines elections, as well as ensuring the release of value-added tax payments.
The indictment alleges that the bribes were funded by inflating the cost per voting machine, creating a slush fund. To conceal the payments, they used coded language and fabricated contracts and sham loan agreements. The proceeds were then allegedly laundered through bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the United States, including Florida.
Pinate and co-defendant Vasquez face charges of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and a substantive count of the FCPA. All four defendants, including Pinate, Vasquez, Bautista, and Elie Moreno (a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel), are also charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. If convicted, Pinate and Vasquez could each face up to five years in prison for the FCPA charges, while all four could face up to 20 years for each money laundering count.
The announcement was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, along with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) Miami. The investigations are led by HSI’s El Dorado Task Force Miami and IRS CI Miami, with prosecutions handled by attorneys from the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the Southern District of Florida.
Smartmatic is currently involved in litigation against Fox News and provides services in Los Angeles, London, Belgium, Argentina, and the Philippines.
