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