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Federal law enforcement arrested former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vazquez Garced on Thursday, charging her with a bribery scheme they say was aimed at financing her failed 2020 gubernatorial campaign, the Justice Department said.
Vasquez Garced was scheduled to appear in federal court in Puerto Rico later Thursday.
Officials said that while Vazquez Garced was governor in 2019 and 2020, she allegedly took campaign donations from banker Julio Martin Herrera Vellutini and former FBI agent Mark Rossini, who was a consultant to the bank.
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Herrera Velutini’s bank was investigated by the regulatory agency that oversees financial institutions in Puerto Rico. He and Rossini allegedly paid more than $300,000 to consultants who supported Vasquez Garced’s campaign.
In exchange for the campaign donations, the governor said he would appoint a new commissioner to the regulatory agency of Herrera Vellutini’s choosing. In February 2020, Vázquez Garced requested the resignation of the head of the agency. She hired a new director several months later, according to the federal indictment.
Vasquez Garced, Herrera Vellutini and Rossini are charged with conspiracy, federal bribery and wire fraud. If convicted on all counts, they face a maximum of 20 years in prison. The names of their defenders were not immediately available.
Rossini, a former FBI agent,
“The alleged bribery scheme reached the highest levels of Puerto Rico’s government, threatening public confidence in our electoral processes and institutions of government,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Pollitt, Jr., who leads the Department of Justice’s criminal division. justice, in a statement Thursday. “No one is above the rule of law.”
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Vázquez Garced, a member of the pro-state New Progressive Party, stormed into Puerto Rico’s top political office.
In 2019, Governor Ricardo Rosselló resigned amid a scandal sparked by a leaked chat that contained offensive messages about his opponents and victims of Hurricane Maria.
Puerto Rico’s Secretary of State, Pedro Pierluisi, then took the oath of office. But Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court ultimately ruled that he was sworn in on unconstitutional grounds, clearing the way for Vázquez Garced to take office.
At the time, she was Puerto Rico’s Secretary of Justice, the territory’s highest-ranking legal official. She faced widespread mistrust among residents over accusations that she wrongfully prosecuted members of her own party. She denied these allegations.
Vázquez Garced failed to receive his party’s nomination for governor in 2020, losing to Pierluisi.
This is a developing story.
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