Federal law enforcement agents on Thursday arrested former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, charging her in a bribery scheme that was allegedly aimed at financing her failed 2020 gubernatorial campaign, the Justice Department said.
Wanda Vázquez Garced charged in Puerto Rico bribery case
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Herrera Velutini’s bank was under investigation by the regulatory agency that oversees Puerto Rico’s financial institutions. He and Rossini allegedly paid more than $300,000 to consultants who supported Vázquez Garced’s campaign.
In exchange for the campaign donations, the governor allegedly said she would appoint a new commissioner to the regulatory agency of Herrera Velutini’s choosing. In February 2020, Vázquez Garced demanded the resignation of agency head. She appointed a new director a few months later, according to to the federal indictment.
Vazquez Garced, Herrera Velutini and Rossini are each charged with conspiracy, federal programs bribery and wire fraud. If convicted on all counts, they face a maximum of 20 years in prison. The names of their defense attorneys could not immediately be learned.
“The alleged bribery scheme rose to the highest levels of the Puerto Rican government, threatening public trust in our electoral processes and institutions of governance,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr., who heads the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in a statement Thursday. “No one is above the rule of law.”
Vázquez Garced, a member of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, had a tumultuous entry into Puerto Rico’s top political office.
In 2019, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló resigned amid a scandal triggered by a leaked chat that contained offensive messages about his opponents and Hurricane Maria victims.
Puerto Rico’s secretary of state, Pedro Pierluisi, was then sworn in to the top job. But the Puerto Rican Supreme Court ultimately ruled that he was sworn in on unconstitutional grounds, paving the way for Vázquez Garced to take office.
At the time, she was Puerto Rico’s justice secretary, the territory’s top legal official. She faced widespread mistrust among residents over accusations that she mishandled prosecution of members of her own party. She denied those accusations.
Vázquez Garced failed to receive her party’s nomination for governor in 2020, losing to Pierluisi.
This is a developing story.
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