Smartmatic President Surrenders To US Authorities In Miami To Face Election-Related Bribery, Corruption Charges

Smartmatic co-founder and president Roger Piñate surrendered to federal authorities in Miami, Florida on Monday, where he faces charges related to foreign corruption, bribery, and money laundering to secure elections contracts in the Philippines.

Piñate, 49, was charged along with Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, the company's former VP of hardware development - who also surrendered on Monday.

Piñate posted an $8.5 million dollar bond and was later released, however he did not enter a plea because his defense attorney, Curt Miner, has yet to become his permanent lawyer. Vasquez was released on a $1 million bond. His defense attorney, Frank Rubino, told the Miami Herald "It's so early in the case, "But we have been aware of this investigation since 2019."

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According to the indictment, the alleged co-conspirators financed the bribes by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine used in the elections. To hide their crime, prosecutors say they used coded language to refer to a slush fund used to make the illicit payments - causing the creation of fraudulent contracts and fake loan agreements to make the transfers appear legitimate.

The defendants then allegedly laundered the funds related to the bribery scheme via a constellation of international bank accounts in Asia, Europe and the United States - including in the Southern District of Florida.

Court records, including a Homeland Security Investigations criminal complaint, indicate that Smartmatic’s contracts with the Philippines were worth $199 million for providing voting machines and other services for the May 2016 election for president, vice president and other official positions.

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Piñate, Vasquez, Bautista and Elie Moreno, 44, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel who oversaw Smartmatic’s contracts in the Philippines, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments.

The defendants each face a maximum of 20 years in prison if convicted on the above charges, as well as up to five more years each for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to violate the FCPA.

According to the report, the federal probe in South Florida began with Bautista's wife - who, while in the middle of a divorce, informed the Philippine National Bureau of lnvestigation that her husband had "large amounts of unexplained wealth," telling the Bureau's Anti-Fraud division that her husband had roughly one billion Philippine Pesos, or US$20 million in ill-gotten gains.

Smartmatic was founded in 2000 by Piñate, Antonio Mugica and Alfredo José Anzola - making international headlines after Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez chose the company to replace the country's voting machines in 2004. In 2006, they acquired Sequoia Voting Systems - though later divested its stake.

According to Smartmatic's website, Piñate "played a critical role in planning and executing the world’s largest election using optical scanners (in the Philippines) and in Smartmatic winning the largest election contract in US history (in Los Angeles)."