DOJ PIN: Martínez Maldonado and Bravo Fernández charged over legislative bribery

On June 22, 2010, according to the Report to Congress on the Activities and Operations of the Public Integrity Section for 2010 of the U.S. Department of Justice, a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico charged Senator Héctor Martínez Maldonado and businessman Juan Bravo Fernández (then president of one of the Island’s largest private security firms) for their alleged role in a bribery scheme tied to legislation favorable to Bravo’s business. This note sticks to the PIN report: charge ≠ conviction.

According to the report, both faced charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and to travel in interstate commerce in aid of racketeering, one count of interstate travel in aid of racketeering and one count of bribery. Martínez Maldonado was also charged with obstruction of justice for threatening a former employee to make false statements to the FBI.

Bravo allegedly conspired to obtain approval of two bills favorable to his interests by bribing Martínez Maldonado — chair of the Public Safety Committee — and Jorge De Castro Font, a former senator who chaired Rules and Calendar (control of the Senate calendar). In exchange, allegedly, official acts favoring the bills for cash payments and an all-expenses-paid trip to Las Vegas for a championship boxing match. De Castro Font had already pleaded guilty, according to the same PIN report.

The Public Integrity Section’s annual report to the U.S. Congress places the case among 2010 federal public-integrity operations and does not adjudicate guilt in this archived note. This note invents neither trip amounts nor names outside the PIN paragraph of the official report. Official primary: justice.gov PIN 2010 Annual Report PDF. Cousin: none.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice Public Integrity Section. https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/criminal/legacy/2013/10/22/2010-Annual-Report.pdf