Vázquez is accused of participating in a bribery scheme from December 2019 to June 2020 — while she was governor — with several people, including a Venezuelan-Italian bank owner, a former FBI agent, a bank president and a politician advisor. According to the US Department of Justice, the consultant, identified as John Blakeman, and the bank’s president, Frances Díaz, pleaded guilty to participating in the bribery scheme. In early 2019, the bank owned by Julio Martín Herrera Velutini was scrutinized by the Puerto Rico Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions due to transactions that authorities believed were suspicious and had not been reported by the bank. Authorities said Herrera and Mark Rossini, the former FBI agent who provided consulting services to Herrera, allegedly promised to financially support Vasquez’s 2020 campaign for governor in exchange for Vasquez firing the commissioner and appointing a new from Herrera’s selection. Authorities said Vasquez accepted the bribe offer and in February 2020 demanded the commissioner’s resignation. He was then accused of appointing a former consultant for Herrera’s bank as the new commissioner in May 2020. After the move, officials said Herrera and Rossini paid more than $300,000 to political consultants to support Vázquez’s campaign. After Vázquez lost a primary to current governor Pedro Pierluisi, authorities said Herrera allegedly tried to bribe Pierluisi to end the takeover of his bank on favorable terms. Herrera is accused of using intermediaries from April 2021 to August 2021 to offer bribes to Pierluigi’s representative, who was actually acting under orders from the FBI, according to the indictment. Officials said Herrera then ordered a $25,000 payment to a political action committee in hopes of trying to bribe Pierluigi. Stephen Muldrow, the US attorney for Puerto Rico, said Pierluisi was not involved in the case. Vázquez, Herrera and Rossini are each charged with conspiracy, bribery of federal programs and honest services fraud. If convicted on all charges, they could face up to 20 years in prison, officials said. Díaz and Blakeman, meanwhile, could face up to five years in prison, officials said. Multrow said officials believe Herrera is in the United Kingdom and Rossini is in Spain. It was unclear whether the US would seek to extradite them. Juan Rosado-Reynés, a spokesman for Vázquez, told the AP he had no immediate comment. Attorneys for the other suspects charged in the case were not immediately available for comment. In mid-May, Vázquez’s lawyer told reporters that he and his client were preparing for possible charges, as the former governor at the time denied any wrongdoing: “I can tell the people of Puerto Rico that I have not committed any crime, that I have done are not involved in any illegal or wrongful conduct, as I have always said.” Vázquez was the second woman to serve as governor of Puerto Rico and the first former governor to face federal charges. Former governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá was charged with campaign finance violations while in office and acquitted in 2009. He was the first governor of Puerto Rico to be charged with a crime in recent history. Vázquez was sworn in as governor in August 2019 after former governor Ricardo Rosselló resigned following mass protests. He served until 2021, after losing the pro-democratic New Progressive Party primary to Pierluigi. In a statement Thursday, Pierluigi said his government would work with federal authorities to help fight corruption. “No one is above the law in Puerto Rico,” he said. “In the face of this news which certainly affects and shakes the confidence of our people, I reiterate that in my administration, we will continue to stand united with the federal authorities against anyone who commits an improper act, regardless of where it comes from or who it may involve ». Vázquez previously served as the island’s justice secretary and prosecutor for more than 30 years. He became governor after Puerto Rico’s Supreme Court ruled that the inauguration of Pierluigi — who was secretary of state in 2019 — as governor was unconstitutional. Vázquez at the time said she was not interested in running and would only serve out the nearly two years remaining in Rosselló’s term. Rosselló had resigned after tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans took to the streets, angry over corruption, mismanagement of public funds and a lewd conversation in which he and 11 other men, including public officials, mocked women, gays and hurricane victims. Maria among others. Shortly after her inauguration, Vázquez told the AP that her priorities were fighting corruption, securing federal hurricane recovery funds and helping Puerto Rico emerge from a deep economic crisis as the government struggled to from bankruptcy. During the interview, she told the AP that she had long wanted to be in public service: as a girl, she would stand on her balcony and stage imaginary trials, always finding the alleged defendants guilty.
