Voting Machine Manufacturer Indicted; Accused of Bribery
According to a federal indictment announced last week, employees of voting machine manufacturer Smartmatic bribed a Filipino elections commissioner to ensure that its equipment would be used during the nation’s 2016 presidential election.
According to the indictment, the Florida-based company overpaid its contracts (using a slush fund codenamed “the Philippines Pot”) and laundered money through a series of bank accounts in the US, Europe, and Asia in order to deliver up to $1 million in bribes to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, former chairman of the Philippines’ Commission on Elections.
The bribes, paid between 2015 to 2018, were intended to secure business in the Philippines and were eventually used by a family member of Bautista’s to buy property in San Francisco, CA. Bautista was outed by his own wife, who told investigators in 2017 that she discovered unexplainable stacks of cash inside their home.
Bautista was arrested in 2023 after Miami officials accused him of accepting bribes in exchange for awarding contracts totaling nearly $200 million to an “unnamed voting machine company” for its equipment and services to be used during the 2016 election in the Philippines.
The indictment charges Smartmatic President Roger Piñate, Smartmatic executive Jorge Vasquez, and former Smartmatic executive Elie Moreno with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, a law that prohibits corporate bribery abroad. The three men plus Bautista are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. Combined, these charges carry a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.
Smartmatic immediately put the indicted employees on a “leave of absence” and released the following statement: “No voter fraud has been alleged and Smartmatic is not indicted…Voters worldwide must be assured that the elections they participate in are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency.”
Regardless of the company’s claims, the Filipino government has banned Smartmatic from participating in the nation’s 2025 election.
Smartmatic was founded in 2000 by Piñate and Antonio Mugica. The company’s initial success can be attributed to contracts from the government of Hugo Chavez in Pinate’s native Venezuela. Since then, Smartmatic has participated in elections in 25 countries including several European countries. In 2017, Smartmatic broke ties with Venezuela after accusing President Nicolas Maduro’s government of inflating its own votes by up to 1 million during an election for its national constituent assembly.
Smartmatic is currently engaged in defamation lawsuits against Fox News and Newsmax over claims that its software was used to manipulate the 2020 US presidential election, though the software in question was actually developed by an American affiliate of Smartmatic roughly 10 years ago. Smartmatic’s tech was used in the 2020 election, but only in Los Angeles County.
The indictment was filed by the US Justice Department in the Southern District of Florida.
Sources:
Executives at voting machine company Smartmatic indicted for alleged bribery scheme
Smartmatic president, 2 other execs charged with bribing Philippines election official: DOJ
Co-founder of Smartmatic voting machine company charged with paying bribes for Philippine contracts
Alice leaves out: twas Dominion that lodged and won the YUGE defamation case against fake fact Fox. This is the second, and up until this point, a no-brainer, case on the same subject with FOX.
Funny, I seem to remember a huge ethics MBA issue subject over bribe payments when expected as normal business in some countries. Apparently, this law has been on the books since 1977. I voted for, if legal in US, pay it.
Of course the company is based in Florida. Lots of felons moving there.
My favorite felon lives there
and sexual abuser too.
and business records cheat
and defamer
and charity tax cheat
and University scam czar
and 2016 election rig artist
2020 election cheat too
but the guy can count votes. over and over. again and again. one more time with emphasis……
Hell yesssss!!!!!! He’s a man from the ground up
Magazine spamking sex with a porn star just takes money. She calls him “short dick.” It’s weird. Think they used The New Yorker for some liberal butt shots.
Did even worse with a playboy model for money
Pinning a smaller girl against a wall to force cop a feel just takes more strength than a little girl.
Peeking at naked teens at his pageants is just creepy.
So is the comments about daughter sex with Stern.
Melania just wanted money, America, her chain~linked family, a kid in that order and Don’s the ticket but not on her ticket. Is rarely even seen with him. Doesn’t sleep with him. Hangs more with Hillary since so much in common.
Ivana had sex with Don and ended up dying from a strngely unusual fall down the stairs.
If that portrays a real man in your eyes, I’m understanding where you’re common from.
Frank got horny ranting about trump’s sex life. And his interest in trumps dick. Hmmmm. Is Frank hiding behind a beard?
Archie, the matter of Trump’s penis is a matter of court record. It was entered into evidence due to the Stormy Daniels witness testimony in the Trump Election Interference Case, a.k.a. “Stormy Daniels Case” Stormy testified that Trump’s penis was very small and shaped like a small toadstool. She then discussed Trump’s deviant behavior of asking Stormy to spank him with a rolled-up Time Magazine while he was wearing nothing but underwear.
The judge allowed the testimony because Trump himself said “I did not have sex with that horseface!” So the testimony was allowed to prove there was a sexual event. What the defense should have done to refute Stormy was they could have demanded pictures be taken and then examined by the judge to see if the testimony was correct. They did not do this, most likely because it was true!
Comments on this are all over the internet and in Stormy’s new book, as well as the interview on Kimmel. See *https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2018/10/stormy-daniels-kimmel-sarah-paulson-trump-book-full-disclosure* It’s funny!!!
Frank is only stating official evidence, nothing more.
Archie, it’s stormy’s testimony that TOU keep bringing up as thing you admire as manly b
No, weird, spanking, porn, payoffs, rape and perverse activities get your vote of excitement. I am happy with my 40 year marriage.
It’s just weird what you want to discuss.
Congrats on your successful marriage Frank!!!
Hey, I said I was happy…..she is bery, bery, patient. 😁
And Larry…… she makes more money than I 🥴🥴
To be clear, I don’t care about trump’s dick. And if he fucked stormy he probably had to tie a board across his ass to keep from falling in. I remember that Bill Clinton’s dick was mentioned during his monaca investigation. This shit is between those guys and their wives and their God. With legal experts on both sides politics saying that there was no crime or at worst misdemeanors. But we know what it’s all about. And then the democrats forced Biden out of the race. He should have told them all to suck his dick, since there seems to be interest in dicks. And you liberals think that I should jump ship and support Kamala? Hell no!!!! I know that’s how you think because of the spouting off about Trump when the truth is the democrats are lowlife scum
Archie, glad you clarified your dick position while detailing stormy’s vagina as well. Your memories of Bill’s dick were a nice adder.
Priceless
Trump is guilty; no need for experts. It’s done and any appeals will not change thise facts. He paid hush moneybto a porn star to rig the 2026 election. Guilty. He digitally raped a woman and was found liable. Many felonies, many fines, and sentence date is September 18th.
It’s about character.
Alice, good piece but a paragraph in your article contradicts the title of your article.
Paragraph: “Smartmatic immediately put the indicted employees on a “leave of absence” and released the following statement: “No voter fraud has been alleged and Smartmatic is not indicted…Voters worldwide must be assured that the elections they participate in are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency.”
Alice, notice the words, ““No voter fraud has been alleged and Smartmatic is not indicted…”
Now look at your title: “Voting Machine Manufacturer Indicted; Accused of Bribery”
Alice, it was specific employees that were indicted, not the company. Your title should have been, “Voting Machine Manufacturer Top Employees Indicted; Accused of Bribery”
You are correct Tom. Not sure how much Coffee Frank had this morning?
He has been listening to Kamala to much.
Coffee, frank, tom, kamala???
Weird Darren. Weird.