Ex-governor pleads guilty to misdemeanor charge

Probation expected at sentencing in October

Former Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced emphasized that the plea agreement with the federal prosecutor’s office dismisses the charges of conspiracy, bribery and wire fraud. “There was no bribery here, I didn’t take a single cent, I didn’t have any political advisers here, I didn’t have any polls. None of that happened,” she maintained.

By The Star Staff

Former Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced became the first governor of Puerto Rico to be convicted of a crime after pleading guilty on Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge of accepting a political donation from a foreigner.

Upon her arrival at the U.S. District Court in Hato Rey, Vázquez told reporters that she was at peace after being under indictment for three years.

“I trusted the people that were near me and who knew about politics and now I am here taking responsibility for them,” she said.

During the hearing, federal judge Silvia Carreño-Coll asked Vázquez if she understood the process and the charge against her. She also asked the former New Progressive Party governor if she had discussed the plea-bargaining agreement with her lawyer. Vázquez was shown a document.

The judge then asked Vázquez, who used a language interpreter, if she accepted that she was guilty of the charge.

“Yes, your honor,” she said.

The judge noted that the agreement includes a waiver in which the governor agrees she will not appeal the sentence if she is convicted under the federal guidelines. The sentencing date will be Oct. 15 at 1:30 p.m. Other individuals accused in the case against her, former FBI agent Mark Rossini and Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini, were also slated to plead guilty to charges.

Prior to the hearing, Ignacio Fernández de Lahongrais, lawyer for the former governor, said his client feels “vindicated” because all the charges against her had been dropped except for the misdemeanor charge.

The lawyer said that after the guilty plea, the court would order a pre-sentence report. He clarified that, although the statute allows a maximum of up to one year in prison, the guidelines contemplate the option of probation.

The lawyer noted that the agreement replaces the original charges of conspiracy, bribery and wire fraud with a single count of accepting pledges of contributions from a foreigner to a political campaign. He said the amount alleged for his client “is more than $2,000 and less than $25,000,” which positions the crime as less serious.

The plea bargaining agreement with prosecutors states that Vázquez will be sentenced to six months to one year of probation.

The charge against the former governor goes back to 2022 when federal authorities arrested her and charged her with federal bribery charges related to the financing of her 2020 electoral campaign. Herrera Velutini and Rossini were also arrested in relation to the alleged bribery scheme.

Vázquez had been charged with a count of conspiracy, a count of bribery and honest services wire fraud. Herrera Velutini was accused of two counts of conspiracy, two counts of bribery and two counts of honest service wire fraud, while Rossini was charged with conspiracy, bribery and honest services wire fraud.

According to the original indictment, from December 2019 through June 2020, Vázquez allegedly engaged in a bribery scheme with various individuals, including Herrera Velutini, Frances Díaz, Rossini and John Blakeman to finance her 2020 gubernatorial election campaign.

According to the indictment, beginning in 2019, Herrera Velutini’s bank was the subject of an examination by Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF), a regulatory agency that oversees the financial industry in Puerto Rico. Through intermediaries, Herrera Velutini and Rossini allegedly promised to provide funding to support Vázquez’s campaign in exchange for her terminating the OCIF commissioner, George Richard Joyner, and appointing a new commissioner of Herrera Velutini’s choosing. That did not happen.

In June of this year, three years after the indictments, the parties informed the court that an agreement had been brokered in Washington, D.C. to avoid going to trial. The defense lawyer attributed the plea agreement to their own investigation, which found that the charges had been unfounded.