Consultant Henry Cuellar, a Texas Democrat in a vital swing district, and his spouse have been charged with taking part in a yearslong $600,000 bribery scheme involving Azerbaijan and a Mexican financial institution, in keeping with a federal indictment unsealed in Houston on Friday.
The accusations in opposition to Mr. Cuellar, 68, and his spouse Imelda, 67, middle on allegations of bribery and cash laundering in reference to their efforts on behalf of an oil and fuel firm owned by Azerbaijan’s leaders in addition to an unnamed financial institution primarily based in Mexico Metropolis, in keeping with the 54-page criticism.
Mr. Cuellar, a Laredo native first elected in 2004, can be accused of appearing as an agent of a international entity whereas a U.S. authorities official — by delivering a speech favoring Azerbaijan in Congress and inserting provisions into support payments to learn those that have been paying bribes to his household.
The federal government claimed that Mr. Cuellar, who as soon as served as Texas secretary of state, was paid to again laws supposed to stymie regulation of the payday mortgage trade, which has been accused of predatory lending practices in opposition to the poor. He additionally tried to weaken cash laundering legal guidelines that affected Mexico’s banking sector, in keeping with prosecutors.
Mr. Cuellar “agreed to affect legislative exercise and to advise and stress high-ranking U.S. government department officers relating to measures helpful to the financial institution,” they mentioned.
Lots of Mr. Cuellar’s actions, taken at face worth, gave the impression to be professional policymaking actions, albeit favoring foreign-owned companies. However the indictment revealed a hidden narrative, and prosecutors compiled tables of secret funds that forged these actions as an unlawful and mercenary scheme.
The couple was launched on Friday after every of them paid a bond of $100,000 after a quick look earlier than a federal Justice of the Peace in Houston. Hours earlier than the indictment was unsealed, Mr. Cuellar issued a press release vehemently denying wrongdoing.
Consultant Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority chief, mentioned Mr. Cuellar would take go away from his put up as the highest Democrat on the Homeland Safety Appropriations Subcommittee whereas he fights the fees.
Christie Stephenson, a spokeswoman for Mr. Jeffries, described Mr. Cuellar as “a valued member of the Home Democratic Caucus,” and mentioned he was “entitled to his day in court docket.”
The long-rumored prices come at a precarious second for an more and more empowered Democratic minority within the Home. It forged prompt doubt on the occasion’s possibilities of holding a district that runs alongside the border with Mexico and has vital political and symbolic significance.
Mr. Cuellar is likely one of the extra conservative Democrats within the Home, the one anti-abortion member of his occasion within the chamber and an occasional critic of the Biden administration. However he’s a dependable Democratic vote on most points.
The legal criticism echoes the indictment introduced final 12 months in opposition to Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey. He and his spouse have been charged with accepting bribes on behalf of Egyptian companies.
Funds to Mr. Cuellar and his spouse, comprised of 2014 to 2021, have been laundered via “sham consulting contracts” and shell corporations owned by Ms. Cuellar, who carried out “little to no professional work” underneath the contracts, legal professionals with the Justice Division’s legal division wrote. Two of the couple’s grownup kids are partial house owners of the companies however weren’t charged.
Prosecutors disclosed an in depth stock of interactions between Mr. Cuellar and Azerbaijani officers that indicated a detailed stage of cooperation, together with proof that he pressured officers within the Obama administration to take a more durable line in opposition to Armenia.
In January 2015 — after his spouse had already been paid $120,000 by the oil firm — the congressman emailed an unnamed diplomat from Azerbaijan the draft of a speech he deliberate to provide on the ground of the Home, in keeping with the indictment. It praised the nation’s effort to fight terrorism.
A 12 months later, Mr. Cuellar texted the identical diplomat to say he had launched laws that favored Azerbaijan.
“You’re the finest El Jefe!” the diplomat replied.
Across the identical time, Henry and Imelda Cuellar have been getting into right into a collection of corrupt offers with a financial institution in Mexico, prosecutors mentioned. In March 2015, the congressman expressed considerations the association can be found and requested a financial institution official to create a intermediary to “disguise” funds, they mentioned.
“We have to discover one other scheme,” Mr. Cuellar informed the official, in keeping with the indictment.
In a press release beforehand, Mr. Cuellar maintained his innocence and mentioned he had cleared his spouse’s work with the Ethics Committee.
“I need to be clear that each my spouse and I are harmless of those allegations,” Mr. Cuellar mentioned. “All the things I’ve performed in Congress has been to serve the individuals of South Texas.”
“Earlier than I took any motion,” he added, “I proactively sought authorized recommendation from the Home Ethics Committee, who gave me multiple written opinion, together with a further opinion from a nationwide legislation agency.”
Mr. Cuellar mentioned he tried to fulfill with federal prosecutors in Washington to elucidate his aspect of the story, however they declined the assembly.
The F.B.I. searched Mr. Cuellar’s Laredo house in 2022, showing to dim his prospects for re-election, however he gained a detailed major victory anyway over a extra progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros. The first divided outstanding Democrats; Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York progressive, backed Ms. Cisneros, however senior members of management, together with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, campaigned for Mr. Cuellar.
On Friday, he vowed to proceed his re-election marketing campaign.
Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet republic within the Caucuses area, has been on the middle of a number of vital scandals which have touched on influence-peddling, corruption and election rigging.
It has maintained a sturdy lobbying presence in the USA, and has aggressively courted members of Congress in an effort to win assist for its battle with Armenia over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh area.
In 2013, the State Oil Firm of the Azerbaijan Republic, which is managed by the nation’s leaders, funneled $750,000 via U.S. intermediaries to pay bills for a junket to Baku, the nation’s capital, for 10 members of Congress and 32 employees members, in keeping with the Workplace of Congressional Ethics.
Mr. Cuellar didn’t attend. However a number of different Texas legislators from each events did — and likewise took house lavish presents that included a crystal tea set and hand-woven rug.
Prosecutors mentioned that funds to Ms. Cuellar’s shell corporations, within the type of retainers value $30,000 to $60,000, slowed after the general public disclosure of the Baku journey in 2015.
