MIAMI — A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment Aug. 8 charging three executives of an election voting machine and service provider company and a former Chairman of the Commission on Elections of the Republic of the Philippines for their roles in an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 Philippine elections. The indictment was the result an investigation led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Miami.
According to the indictment, between 2015 and 2018, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen and resident of Boca Raton, Florida, and Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, a U.S. citizen and resident of Davie, Florida, together with others, allegedly caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, 60, the former Chairman of COMELEC. These bribes were allegedly paid to obtain and retain business related to providing voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippine elections and to secure payments on the contracts, including the release of value added tax payments.
The co-conspirators allegedly funded the bribes through a slush fund that was created by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine for the 2016 Philippine elections. To conceal and disguise the nature and purpose of the corrupt payments, the co-conspirators used coded language to refer to the slush fund and caused the creation of fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements to justify transfers. The co-conspirators then allegedly laundered funds related to the bribery scheme through bank accounts located in Asia, Europe, and the United States, including in the Southern District of Florida.
Pinate and Vasquez are each charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one substantive violation of the FCPA. Bautista, Pinate, Vasquez, and Elie Moreno, 44, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. If convicted, Pinate and Vasquez each face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for the FCPA and conspiracy to violate the FCPA counts. Bautista, Pinate, Vasquez, and Moreno each face a maximum penalty of 20 years for each count of international laundering of monetary instruments and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Special Agent in Charge Anthony Salisbury of HSI Miami, U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida; Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Special Agent in Charge Matthew D. Line of Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI) Miami made the announcement.
HSI’s El Dorado Task Force Miami is investigating the case, with assistance from IRS CI Miami.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Emery for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Michael DiLorenzo and Connor Mullin and Assistant Chief Alexander Kramer of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Philippine Department of Justice and Office of the Ombudsman provided substantial assistance.
For more news and information on HSI Miami’s efforts in south Florida follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @HSI_Miami.
About HSI
HSI is the principal investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), responsible for investigating transnational crime and threats, specifically those criminal organizations that exploit the global infrastructure through which international trade, travel and finance move. HSI’s workforce consists of over 10,000 employees, assigned to 235 offices within the United States and 93 overseas locations in 56 countries. HSI's international presence represents DHS’s largest investigative law enforcement presence abroad and one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.