DOJ: Wanda Vázquez arrested over alleged bribery scheme

On August 4, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice announced the arrest of former governor Wanda Vázquez Garced on federal bribery charges tied to financing her 2020 gubernatorial campaign. An indictment is an allegation: all defendants are presumed innocent until guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Charges are not a conviction.

According to the indictment, between December 2019 and June 2020 Vázquez Garced — then governor — allegedly took part in a scheme with Julio Martín Herrera Velutini, Frances Díaz, Mark Rossini and John Blakeman. Herrera Velutini, owner of an international bank with San Juan operations, faced examination by the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF). Through intermediaries, Herrera and Rossini allegedly promised campaign funds in exchange for Vázquez removing the OCIF commissioner and naming one of their choosing.

The indictment alleges Vázquez accepted the bribe; in February 2020 she demanded the resignation of Commissioner A and in May 2020 she named Commissioner B — a former consultant to Herrera’s bank — selected by Herrera. In return, Herrera and Rossini allegedly paid more than 300,000 dollars to political consultants in support of her campaign. Vázquez, Herrera and Rossini face conspiracy, federal-program bribery and honest-services wire-fraud charges; if convicted on all counts, each would face up to 20 years. That figure is a potential ceiling, not a sentence.

The same announcement reported that Frances Díaz pleaded guilty in March to conspiring to bribe a “Public Official A” (the successor after the primary), and John Blakeman pleaded guilty to conspiring in bribes to Vázquez and that official. Both faced up to five years; sentencing hearings were not scheduled in the release. The indictment also describes a later (2021) attempt by Herrera to bribe the successor via a witness who was in fact working with the FBI, including an alleged 25,000-dollar payment to a PAC.

The FBI in San Juan investigated; the case was announced by Kenneth A. Polite Jr. (Criminal Division), U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow and SAC Joseph González. Press Release 22-833. Arrest and indictment do not equal proven theft or a conviction.