Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and his wife, Imelda Rios Cuellar, were indicted Friday on bribery charges after allegedly accepting $598,000 in bribes from foreign entities.
The indictment alleges that the Cuellars “agreed to and did accept at least $598,000 in bribes from two foreign entities” between “at least December 2014 and continuing through at least November 2021.”
The alleged bribes came from a foreign oil company that is “wholly owned and controlled by the Government of Azerbaijan” and a foreign bank based in Mexico City, Mexico, according to the 54-page indictment, which NBC News obtained.
The document reads, in part:
The bribe payments were laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by IMELDA CUELLAR. IMELDA CUELLAR performed little or no legitimate work under the sham contracts. Instead, in exchange for the bribe payments to IMELDA CUELLAR, HENRY CUELLAR agreed to perform official acts in his capacity as a Member of Congress, to commit acts in violation of his official duties, and to act as an agent of the Government of Azerbaijan and Foreign Bank-1.
Pursuant to these corrupt agreements, HENRY CUELLAR promised to use the power and prestige of his office to advance Azerbaijan’s and Foreign Bank-1’s interests in the United States. With respect to Azerbaijan, in exchange for the bribe payments, HENRY CUELLAR promised to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan. HENRY CUELLAR agreed, among other things, to influence a series of legislative measures relating to Azerbaijan’s conflict with neighboring Armenia; to insert language favored by Azerbaijan into legislation and committee reports governing certain security and economic aid programs; to deliver a proAzerbaijan speech on the floor of the House of Representatives; and to consult with representatives of Azerbaijan regarding their efforts to lobby the United States government.
With respect to Foreign Bank-1, in exchange for the bribe payments, HENRY CUELLAR promised to influence federal regulation of the financial industry to benefit Foreign Bank-1 and its affiliates. Specifically, HENRY CUELLAR agreed, among other things, to influence legislative activity and to advise and pressure Executive Branch officials regarding antimoney laundering enforcement practices that threatened Foreign Bank-1’s business interests; to support legislation to block federal regulation of the payday lending industry; and to support revisions to the criminal money-laundering statutes favored by the Mexican corporate conglomerate of which Foreign Bank-1 was a member.
NBC News first reported Friday morning that the Department of Justice (DOJ) was expected to unseal an indictment against the congressman at some point in the day and noted that, in 2022, federal authorities raided his home and office:
Cuellar’s home and campaign office in Laredo, Texas, were raided in January 2022 as part of a federal investigation into Azerbaijan and a group of U.S. businessmen who have ties to the country, law enforcement said at the time. His office had pledged to cooperate with the investigation. In April, Cuellar’s lawyer, Joshua Berman, told some news outlets that federal authorities informed him he was not the target of the investigation.
In a statement after the reports surfaced, Cuellar insisted on his and his wife’s innocence, the Associated Press reported:
The longtime congressman released a statement Friday saying he and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, “are innocent of these allegations.”
“Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas,” Cuellar said. “Before I took action, I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm.
“Furthermore, we requested a meeting with the Washington D.C. prosecutors to explain the facts and they refused to discuss the case with us or hear our side.”
The case is the United States v. Cuellar, No. 4:24-cr-00224, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
