Smartmatic is a multinational company specializing in technology and services for electronic voting systems, providing hardware and software solutions for elections worldwide. The company has been involved in various high-profile elections, including national and local elections in the United States, Latin America, Asia, and Europe.
Today, the DoJ news release hid the following announcement which refers to Smartmatic:
“A federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida returned an indictment today charging three executives of an election voting machine and service provider company and a former Chairman of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) of the Republic of the Philippines for their roles in an alleged bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 Philippine elections.
“According to the indictment, between 2015 and 2018, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen and resident of Boca Raton, Florida [and president of Smartmatic], and Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, a U.S. citizen and resident of Davie, Florida, together with others, allegedly caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, 60, the former Chairman of COMELEC. These bribes were allegedly paid to obtain and retain business related to providing voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippine elections and to secure payments on the contracts, including the release of value added tax payments.
“The co-conspirators allegedly funded the bribes through a slush fund that was created by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine for the 2016 Philippine elections. To conceal and disguise the nature and purpose of the corrupt payments, the co-conspirators used coded language to refer to the slush fund and caused the creation of fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements to justify transfers. The co-conspirators then allegedly laundered funds related to the bribery scheme through bank accounts located in Asia, Europe, and the United States, including in the Southern District of Florida.”
martmatichttps://justice.gov/opa/pr/four-men-charged-philippine-bribery-and-money-laundering-scheme
Smartmatic is a highly litigious company, It is currently suing members of FOX News as well as Rudy Giuliani, Mike Lindell and Sydney Powell and other conservative media organizations and personalities. It is suing them for huge amounts because they suggested possible malpractice by Smartmatic during the 2020 elections.
Should the grand jury indict, this could throw a huge spanner in the works for the cases that remind unsettled.
JUST IN: Three officials for electronic voting technology company Smartmatic have been indicted by a federal grand jury for a bribery and money laundering scheme.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 8, 2024
The DOJ named Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, Elie Moreno, and Jose Miguel Vaque in the indictment.
The men… pic.twitter.com/GRIETrKfL7