Two executives from Florida voting machine company Smartmatic were charged Thursday with bribing officials to secure contracts ahead of the 2016 Philippine elections. This was reported by the United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida.
The president of Smartmatic was Roger Pinate and another executive was Jorge Miguel Vasquez charged with charges They said they laundered money around the world, including through Florida, to pay an estimated $1 million in bribes to a Philippine official to secure contracts related to the 2016 elections.
Employees are on leave.
“No voter fraud has been alleged and Smartmatic has not been charged. However, voters around the world must be assured that the elections they participate in are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency. These are the values that Smartmatic lives by,” the company said in a statement.
Piñate, a Venezuelan citizen and Florida resident, and Vasquez, a U.S. citizen and Florida resident, face decades in prison on money laundering and related conspiracy charges, as well as five years in prison for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Smartmatic has been accused by a number of prominent figures on the right Against fraud in the 2020 US presidential election, despite the fact that the company is only used in Los Angeles. Smartmatic has since a A massive defamation lawsuit against Fox News and its parent company it’s over Network news about stolen election claims.
Fox News promoted the indictment of Smartmatic executives in an email to reporters.
“Fox News knows full well that they cannot win the Smartmatic case in court. As a result, they have chosen to engage in a smear campaign by spreading non-media stories to avoid the established defamation model against Smartmatic. will be held accountable,” lead attorney J. Eric Connolly said in a statement first shared with NBC News.