U.S. Congressman Cuellar & Wife Charged With Bribery, Unlawful Foreign Influence, & Money Laundering
Monday, May 6, 2024, 5:00 A.M. ET. By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
WASHINGTON, DC.- In what appears to be another case of alleged influence peddling case, on Friday, May 3, 2024, a Federal Grand Jury returned an indictment charging U.S. Congressmen Henry Cuellar a powerful Southern Texas Democrat, and his wife Imelda for accepting almost $600,000 in bribes from two Foreign Entities in exchange for Official Acts as a Member of Congress.
According to court documents filed in the indictment, U.S. Congressman Enrique Roberto "Henry" Cuellar, 68, and his wife Imelda Cuellar, 57, both of Laredo, Texas were charged with allegedly participating in two schemes involving bribery, unlawful foreign influence, and money laundering.
Congressman Cuellar and his wife Imelda made their initial first appearance on Friday before U.S. District Magistrate Judge Dena Palermo in Houston, Texas.
In court documents, beginning in at least December 2014 and continuing through at least November 2021, Congressman Cuellar and Imelda Cuellar allegedly accepted approximately $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities an oil and gas company wholly owned and controlled by the Government of Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet Union country that is on the border of Iran and Russia on the Caspian Sea, and a bank headquartered in Mexico City.
The bribe payments were allegedly laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar, who performed little to no legitimate work under the contracts.
In return for the payments, Congressman Cuellar allegedly pushed U.S. Policy in favor of Azerbaijan including adding language to defense spending legislation to prioritize ties to countries in the region and working to kill legislation that prioritized Congressional members who supported Armenian interests.
In the allegations with the Mexican bank, Cuellar has been accused of accepting money in return for influencing members of the executive branch to work around an anti-money laundering policy that threatened the bank's interests. In the indictment, Cuellar also allegedly coordinated with a subsidiary bank on legislation that would have been beneficial to the PayDay Lending Industry which is a form of lending that targets low-income borrowers that includes extremely high interest rates.
The indictment alleged that Cuellar and his wife used the money to finance credit card payments, taxes, car payments, dining, and shopping, including $12,000 on a custom dress. The indictment also alleges that one of Cuellars' adult children assisted in creating the shell companies used to launder money. Records show that Cuellars have two adult daughters, Catie and Christy.
The two, Congressman Cuellar and Imelda Cuellar are each charged with two counts of Conspiracy to Commit Bribery of a Federal Official; two counts of Bribery of a Federal Official; two counts of Conspiracy to Commit Honest Services Wire Fraud; two counts of Violating the Ban on Public Officials Acting as Agents of a Foreign Principal; one count of Conspiracy to Commit Concealment of Money Laundering; and five counts of Money Laundering.
If convicted on all the charges, the Congressman and his wife will face the potential of spending decades in prison.
Friday's indictment comes just eight months after New Jersey's Democratic Senator Robert Menendez and his wife Nadine were indicted by a Grand Jury in the Southern District of New York accusing the two of Bribery and influence peddling in return for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gold bars, and receiving a new car.
In a statement released on Friday, Congressman Cuellar said that he and his wife are innocent of all the charges, and he will be seeking reelection in November.
FILED UNDER: MAY 6, 2024: NATIONAL, LOCAL, LAW, POLITICS, WASHINGTON, ELECTION 2024: