The former Puerto Rico governor, Wanda Vazquez Garced faces various charges of defrauding the government, bribery with federal funds and wire fraud. Judge Camille Vélez Rivé set bail for her at $50,000.
Along with the former president, Julio Martín Herrera Velutini, Frances Díaz, Mark Rossini and John Blakeman were also accused, specified the federal prosecutor, W. Stephen Muldrow.
Vazquez Garced, Herrera Velutini and Rossini are charged with conspiracy, bribery of federal programs and honest services fraud and, if convicted on all counts, each face a maximum total sentence of 20 years in prison.
“There is no one here above the law,” Muldrow said at a news conference.
According to the indictment, Herrera Velutini, owner of Bancrédito Interantional Bank & Trust Corporation, and Rossini, a former FBI agent who offered advisory services to Herrera Velutini, allegedly promised to provide financial support to the former president’s campaign so that she, with his political influence, dismiss and replace the commissioner of the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF), George Joyner, since Bancrédito was the object of an examination by the office. Instead, they sought to replace him with Víctor Rodríguez Bonilla who was recommended by Herrera Velutini.
This is why Vázquez Garced allegedly accepted bribes and, in February 2020, “took action to demand the resignation of the OCIF commissioner.”
To set up the scheme, Herrera Velutini and Rossini communicated “in secret” and through intermediaries, identified as Díaz – president of Bancrédito – and Blakeman – political advisor to Vázquez Garced during his campaign.
“Herrera, Rossini, Vázquez, and their co-contractors secretly communicated with each other directly and through intermediaries via text messages, email, and Internet-based messaging applications, and during internal meetings, to discuss aspects of the settlement agreement. bribes to Vázquez”, reads the accusation.
The indictment revealed that on December 15, 2019, Herrera Velutini sent a text message to Diaz that read “I talked to John (Blakeman) last night! We must enter the Fortress and support the new governor” and that they should use “a paving roller on OCIF and build a new structure that regulates and does not persecute the banks and change the documents of the manufacturing documents.”
Four days later, according to the indictment, Herrera Velutini had a text exchange with Blakeman about how the International Consulting Firm—an international lobbying firm that operates in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, among other places—would help his “ friend” to succeed in the elections.
It is clear from the investigation that the compromising messages continued and, in January 2020, Rossini promised Herrera Velutini in a text message that the OCIF “would pay dearly” for her examination to Bancrédito.
In that same month, Herrrera and Vázquez attended a wedding. Sitting at the same table, Herrera Velutini received a message from Blakeman stating that Vázquez would win the elections “with the help of all of you.”
For the second week of January 2020, Herrera Velutini, Díaz and Blakeman met with Vázquez Garced in La Fortaleza, a conclave that took place after Herrera Velutini told Díaz via text that he foresaw a solution to “fire the people who have kidnapped Ocif and put an interim commissioner to form an International Banking Reform Board”.
“The FBI is apolitical. We do not investigate by colors or rumours. We investigate allegations and violations of federal law. Our loyalty is to the people we serve and defend. Public corruption is not a victimless crime. The victim is the people. Therefore, today’s arrest is not a cause for celebration. It is unfortunate to have to stand here once again due to the illegal conduct of public officials, in this case a former governor and a former FBI agent, ”said the special agent in charge of the office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI, in English) in San Juan, Joseph Gonzalez.
