Cuellar Charged with Bribery!
Washington, May 3 (EFE) –
The US Department of Justice charged Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar with bribery, unlawful foreign influence, and money laundering on Friday for receiving money from a Mexican bank and an Azerbaijani company.
The indictment alleges that the congressman accepted 600,000 dollars in bribes from these foreign entities in exchange for using his position to push in favor of the companies’ interests.
Cuellar, 68, has been a Congressman for Texas since 2005.
His home and campaign office in Laredo (where he is originally from) were raided by the FBI in 2022 as part of a federal investigation into Azerbaijan.
The Cuellars appeared before federal judge Dena Palermo in Houston, Texas, for the first time on Friday.
The DOJ said in a statement that the two foreign entities involved were an Azerbaijani state-owned oil and gas company and a Mexico City-based bank, whose names were not disclosed by US authorities.
In exchange for bribes paid by the Mexican bank, the congressman allegedly agreed to influence legislative activity and to advise and lobby senior US executive branch officials on policies favorable to the bank.
In the other case, Cuellar influenced US foreign policy in Central Asia in favor of Azerbaijan.
These payments were allegedly laundered under fictitious consulting contracts through a series of front companies and intermediaries in shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar.
The couple is charged with conspiracy to bribe a federal official and to induce a public official to act as an agent of a foreign principal, bribery of a federal official, conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and money laundering.
Combined, and taking into account all charges, they would face a maximum penalty of 204 years in prison.
Before the Justice Department made the indictment public, Cuellar himself issued a statement saying that he and his wife were innocent.
The representative of the 28th district of Texas, located along the US-Mexico border, assured that he will continue with his candidacy for re-election in November.
He added that he would seek legal advice from the House Ethics Committee and the opinion of a law firm before taking any action. EFE
ep/mcd/ics