Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, have been accused of accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities.according to an indictment filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in federal court in Texas.
The Department of Justice accused Henry Cuellar and Imelda Cuellar this Friday of bribery, illicit foreign influence and money laundering, for receiving money from a Mexican bank as well as an Azerbaijani company, according to a press release.
The accusation is based on the fact that the congressman allegedly accepted almost $600,000 in bribes from these foreign entities. in exchange for using his position to influence their benefit.
Cuellar, 68, has been a member of Congress from the state of Texas since 2005. His home and his campaign office in the city of Laredo were raided by the FBI in 2022, as part of a federal investigation into Azerbaijan.
The couple appeared this Friday, for the first time, before federal judge Dena Palermo in a court in Houston, Texas and were released on $100,000 bail.
DOJ announced in a statement that the two foreign entities involved would be an Azerbaijani state-owned oil and gas company and a Mexico City-based bank whose names were not disclosed by US authorities.
In exchange for bribes paid by the Mexican bank, the congressman allegedly agreed to influence legislative activity and advise and pressure senior executive branch officials regarding measures beneficial to said bank.
In the other case, Cuellar influenced US foreign policy in favor of the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan, in central Asia.
These payments were allegedly laundered under fictitious consulting contracts through a series of shell companies and intermediaries in shell companies, owned by Imelda Cuellar.
The couple has two indictments on charges of conspiracy to commit bribery, two counts of bribery of a federal official, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and two counts of violating the prohibition on public officials acting as agents of a foreign representative. .
Added to this is one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and five counts of money laundering.
Between the two of them, and taking into account all the charges, they would face a maximum sentence of 204 years in prison.
Before the Justice Department released the indictment, Cuellar himself wanted to clarify in a statement that both he and his wife are innocent. and that everything he has done in Congress “has been to serve the people of South Texas.”
The representative of the 28th district of Texas, located along the border between the United States and Mexico, assured that will continue with his candidacy for re-election in the 2024 elections.
He also added that, before taking any action, he will seek legal advice from the House Ethics Commission and seek the opinion of a law firm.
The congressman is one of the eight children of a marriage between a Mexican and an American who dedicated their entire lives to agricultural work and, currently, is the member of Congress with the most academic qualifications.
Before making the jump to federal politics, the lawyer originally from South Texas had been a member of the Texas House of Representatives for 14 years (1987-2001) and secretary of state of Texas in 2001.
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