Voting Machine Company Charged in Philippine Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme

Thursday, October 16, 2025

For Immediate Release

U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Florida

MIAMI – A federal grand jury in Miami returned a superseding indictment today charging a multinational company that provides voting machine and election services for participating in a scheme to pay and launder more than $1 million in bribes to a Philippine government official in connection with contracts related to the 2016 Philippine national elections.

The superseding indictment charges SGO Corporation Limited—which, together with the entities within its corporate structure, is commonly known as “Smartmatic” or the “Smartmatic Group”—as well as three of its executives and the former Chairman of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) of the Republic of the Philippines. The four individuals were initially indicted in August 2024.

According to the superseding indictment, between 2015 and 2018, Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, 50, a Venezuelan citizen residing in Boca Raton, and Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 64, of Davie, together with others, caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, 61, the former Chairman of COMELEC. The bribes were allegedly paid to obtain and retain business from COMELEC, including the release of favorable value added tax (VAT) reimbursements and other contractual payments for the benefit of SGO Corporation Limited and its affiliates.

To finance the bribes, the co-conspirators allegedly created a slush fund by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine supplied for the 2016 Philippine elections. To conceal the corrupt payments, they used coded language, created fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements, and routed transactions through bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including within the Southern District of Florida.

SGO Corporation Limited, Piñate, and Vasquez are charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Piñate and Vasquez are charged with one count of violating the FCPA. Additionally, SGO Corporation Limited, Bautista, Piñate, Vasquez, and Elie Moreno, 45, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. If convicted, Bautista, Piñate, Vasquez, and Moreno each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of international laundering of monetary instruments and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Piñate and Vasquez face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each of the FCPA and conspiracy to violate the FCPA counts. Bautista and Moreno are fugitives and remain at large.

U.S. Attorney Jason A. Reding Quiñones for the Southern District of Florida, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew R. Galeotti of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Special Agent in Charge José R. Figueroa of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Miami, and Special Agent in Charge Emmanuel Gomez of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Miami made the announcement.

HSI’s El Dorado Task Force Miami is investigating the case, with assistance from IRS-CI Miami.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. Emery for the Southern District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Connor Mullin and Jil Simon of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section are prosecuting the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Paster is handling asset forfeiture. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs and the Philippine Department of Justice and Office of the Ombudsman provided assistance.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov

or at http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov

, under case number case no. 24-cr-20343.

###

Contact

Public Affairs Unit

U.S. Attorney’s Office

Southern District of Florida

USAFLS.News@usdoj.gov

Updated October 16, 2025

>>23740757

>Voting Machine Company Charged in Philippine Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme

South Florida Federal prosecutors charge Smartmatic in $1 million foreign bribery case in MiamiBy Jay Weaver Updated October 17, 2025 7:54 AM Gift IconGift Article Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate was charged with foreign corruption and money laundering in Miami federal court Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, related to securing voting machine elections contracts in the Philippines. Smartmatic co-founder Roger Piñate was charged with foreign corruption and money laundering in Miami federal court Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, related to securing voting machine elections contracts in the Philippines. Smartmatic Smartmatic, a London-based companywith roots in Venezuela and a subsidiary in South Florida, was charged __Thursday __with foreign corruption by conspiring to pay more than $1 million in bribes to a Filipino election official to obtain voting machine contracts in the Philippines,according to an indictment filed in Miami federal court.The indictment added Smartmatic to the same conspiracy case filed last yearagainst two of its top executives. Roger Alejandro Piñate, the Venezuelan-American founder of Smartmatic, which has a subsidiary in Boca Raton, surrendered to authorities in August of last year. He pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit foreign corruption and money laundering to secure voting machine contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars from the Philippine government for the 2016 election.

Piñate, 50, of Boca Raton, was granted an $8.5 million bond. He’s no longer president of Smartmatic. Piñate was charged along with Jorge Miguel Vasquez, the company’s former vice president of hardware development, who also surrendered last year. Vasquez, 64, of Davie, was given a $1 million bond and pleaded not guilty to the same conspiracy charges. Both Piñate and Vasquez are accused of paying more than $1 million in bribes to the former chairman of the Philippines’ Commission on Elections, Juan Andres Donato Bautista, 61, who is also named as a defendant in the indictment. Per the indictment, Piñate, Vasquez and Smartmatic paid the bribes to secure more than $182 million in contracts with the Philippines to provide voting machines and other services for the May 2016 election for president, vice president and other official positions. Federal authorities said the two Smartmatic executives, along with the company, financed the bribes by overbilling the cost per voting machine for the election. To conceal the operation, they allegedly used coded language in referring to a slush fund that was used to make the illicit payments, and they created fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements to justify the transfers. The co-conspirators then laundered bribery payments through bank accounts located in Asia, Europe and the United States, including in the Southern District of Florida between 2015 and 2018, according to the indictment. In a statement, Smartmatic denied the allegations: “This is again, targeted, political, and unjust,” the company said. “Smartmartic will continue to stand by its people and principles. We will not be intimidated by those pulling the strings of power.” Smartmatic was thrust into the public eye when Fox News aired claims about the company being involved in vote rigging during the 2020 presidential election in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated Republican Donald Trump. In 2021, Smartmatic filed a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, accusing the cable network of making false claims. Piñate, Vasquez and Smartmatic are each charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Piñate, Vasquez, Bautista and Elie Moreno, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel who oversaw Smartmatic’s contracts in the Philippines, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. Smartmatic is also charged with those offenses, according to the indictment. Piñate, Vasquez, Bautista and Moreno each face a maximum penalty of 20 years if convicted of those charges. If convicted, Piñate and Vasquez each also face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article312533391.html#storylink=cpy

>>23740808

>The indictment added Smartmatic to the same conspiracy case filed last yearagainst two of its top executives.

follow the wives

Probe began with wife

The federal probe in South Florida was launched after Bautista’s wife in August 2017 informed the Philippine National Bureau of lnvestigation that her husband had “large amounts of unexplained wealth,” according to a Homeland Security Investigations criminal complaint filed in 2023. She informed the Bureau’s Anti-Fraud Division that her husband had approximately one billion Philippine Pesos, or approximately $20 million of ill-gotten wealth. They were going through a divorce at the time, according to published reports. Piñate, alongside Venezuelans Antonio Mugica and Alfredo José Anzola, founded Smartmatic in 2000. The trio gained notoriety after the company was chosen by Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez to replace the country’s voting machines in 2004. Two years later, Smartmatic grew by acquiring the much larger Sequoia Voting Systems, though the company later announced that it had divested its stake. This story was originally published October 16, 2025 at 7:53 PM.

Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article312533391.html#storylink=cpy

This liddle faggot gonna be wearing his track suit today?

number [9]

number [9]

I've solved8

>>23740949

>>23740943

>>23740949

>>23740952

>POTUS mentioned yesterday that ukraine will be the ninth war he ends. Those drops were 180 mirror on the clock yesterday.

>>23740963

BIG INNING

>>23740952

> Those drops were 180 mirror on theclock yesterday.

>>23740975

>HE DOESN'T WANT TO FUCK AROUND WITH THE UNITED STATES, thank you very much. exit stage left

1698

Q !CbboFOtcZs07/25/2018 13:51:49 ID:1dc9cb

8chan/qresearch: 2281677

Image Name: DVsTEKFUQAEKlkJ.jpg

Filename: 82d95daaf3ee9a537f579774da0c206ee00800ea18a13c6c5d1542a6db627a07.jpg

I [name] do solemnly swear(or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

https://www2.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2009/september2009/oath.htm

Remember.

You owe it to your country.

To yourself.

To your children.

We stand with you.

The time is now.

Q

1699

Q!CbboFOtcZs 07/25/2018 13:53:54 ID: 1dc9cb

8chan/qresearch: 2281708

Q Clock[ Min: 50 |:25/:55 Mir: 0 | 180 Mir: 20 | :35/:05 Mir: 20 ]

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>>2281677

To all Americans, please pray.

B8028-Z-KDHYQ-M5-ZAF1aT9

Q+