Federal prosecutors in Miami say top Smartmatic executives funneled money from a $300 million Los Angeles County voting contract into an illegal slush fund.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According<\/a> to the Justice Department, Smartmatic co-founder Roger Alejandro Pi\u00f1ate Martinez and two others used shell companies and fake invoices to siphon off cash from the taxpayer-funded deal. That money allegedly ended up in bribes paid to government officials in Venezuela and the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe DePaolo of Mediaite offers further insights<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Smartmatic is\u00a0suing Fox News for $2.7 billion<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 alleging the network defamed them by promoting President\u00a0Donald Trump\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0false claims of a stolen election in the days and weeks after the 2020 vote.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The new filing is part of a corruption case in Florida against the three Smartmatic executives for allegedly operating a bribery and money-laundering scheme in which they are accused of paying off an election official in the Philippines to help secure $182 million in contracts. The DOJ also claims the executives carried a similar plot with a Venezuelan official \u2014 whom the executives gave a home with a pool in 2019, according to prosecutors.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The DOJ hasn’t charged Smartmatic as a company, nor has it accused any L.A. County officials of wrongdoing. Still, the department is clearly using the L.A. contract to establish a pattern of corrupt practices tied to the voting tech firm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n DePaolo continues<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notably, the original case against the Smartmatic executives was brought in August 2024, during the final months of the Biden administration.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n In\u00a0a statement provided to the\u00a0Los Angeles Times<\/a>, Smartmatic spokesperson\u00a0Samira Saba<\/strong>\u00a0said the DOJ\u2019s filing contained misrepresentations that were \u201cuntethered from reality.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The DOJ\u2019s latest move builds on earlier charges against the same executives. Federal prosecutors had previously accused Pi\u00f1ate of laundering money through a similar slush fund to bribe election officials in the Philippines during the 2016 elections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be clear, no one is alleging votes were tampered with or election results altered. The charges focus strictly on financial corruption \u2014 kickbacks, shell firms, and international bribery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n READ NEXT: Former Trump Ally Issues Fiery Response To Shock Report<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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