Anika Begay
The logo of Smartmatic, the company that supplies voting technology to Venezuela, is seen on a sliding door at the company’s headquarters in Caracas, August 2, 2017.
RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
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RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images/AFP
The chairman and two executives of electronic voting machine maker Smartmatic face federal charges related to corruption allegations by a former top election official in the Philippines.
Federal prosecutors in Miami allege that between 2015 and 2018, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen living in Florida, co-founder and chairman of Smartmatic, and Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, a Florida-based executive of Smartmatic, paid Juan Andres Donato Bautista, 60, at least $1 million in bribes during his tenure as chairman of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) from 2015 to 2017.
The alleged goal of bribing Bautista was to win business deals related to the supply of voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippine elections, prosecutors said. They allege the men overbilled the cost of voting machines for the 2016 Philippine elections and used slush funds and coded language to hide the payments.
The men are then alleged to have laundered the money from the bribes through bank accounts around the world, including in Asia, Europe and Florida.
In a shared statement on Xthe company said, “Regardless of the veracity of the allegations, and while our accused employees remain innocent until proven guilty, we have placed both employees on leave, effective immediately.”
The statement continued: “There has been no allegation of voter fraud and Smartmatic is not being prosecuted. Voters around the world need to be confident that the elections they participate in are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency. These are the values Smartmatic lives by.”
Pinate and Vasquez face one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and one count of violating the FCPA. Bautista, Pinate, Vasquez and a fourth individual, Elie Moreno, 44, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, all face one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international money laundering.
The company says its equipment is used in more than 30 countries. Los Angeles County is the only U.S. jurisdiction that uses Smartmatic’s equipment.
Smartmatic has been the target of conspiracy theories in conservative media over the spread of debunked fraud claims in the 2020 U.S. presidential election. The company is suing conservative media outlets and commentators, including Fox News, for $2.7 billion over false claims that Smartmatic helped switch votes from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden. The Fox case is expected to begin trial next year.
