Smartmatic, the election systems company that has sued Fox News and other outlets on the right for defamation, was added to an indictment on Thursday involving alleged violations of foreign corruption laws by three executives.
The company is alleged to have conspired to bribe foreign officials as a way to get business in the Philippines. The company’s parent, SGO Corporation, was included in a superseding indictment filed in Florida federal count on Thursday.
In 2024, the executives, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, a Venezuelan citizen and resident of Boca Raton, FL, and Jorge Miguel Vasquez, a U.S. citizen and resident of Davie, FL, were charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one count of substantive violation of the FCPA, as well as one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. Elie Moreno, 44, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, also faces money laundering charges.
A Smartmatic spokesperson said, “This is more of the same. A photocopy of the previous spurious indictment. We can now categorically deny those allegations. This is wrong on the facts and wrong on the law. We will contest the claims, and we are confident we will prevail in court. We believe the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida has been misled and politically influenced by powerful interests, despite our extensive cooperation with the government. This is again, targeted, political, and unjust.”
“Smartmatic will continue to stand by its people and principles. We will not be intimidated by those pulling the strings of power.”
Smartmatic sued Fox News in 2021, alleging that its hosts and guest amplified false claims that it was involved in rigging the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. The New York judge in the case has yet to issue a ruling on each side’s motions for summary judgment. Fox has pointed to the indictment in arguing that Smartmatic’s reputation already was already tarnished, as the allegations are that at least $1 million in bribes were paid to the former chairman of the Commission on Elections in the Philippines during a period from 2015 to 2018. Pinate is a co-founder of the company.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order earlier this year to pause enforcement of the FCPA. The order directed that the attorney general “cease initiation of any new FCPA investigations or enforcement actions, unless the attorney general determines that an individual exception should be made.” It also called on the attorney general to review existing investigations and enforcement actions.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche announced in June that enforcement was resuming, with prosecutorial resources shifting “toward cases that clearly implicate U.S. national security and economic competitiveness, rather than penalizing legitimate business operations abroad.” He said that the DOJ closed about half of the open investigations initiated by the Biden administration.
Newsmax settled Smartimatic’s lawsuit last year for $40 million, and One America News Network settled with Smartmatic earlier in the year for an undisclosed amount.
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