$600K in oil, bank ‘bribes’
Tx. Dem Cuellar and wife indicted
The Justice Department announced Friday that Rep. Henry Cuellar has been indicted over claims he took $600,000 in bribes between 2014 and 2021 from an Azerbaijani oil and gas company and a Mexican bank.
Cuellar (D-Texas) and his wife, Imelda, were both charged and appeared in a Houston federal court for having allegedly participated “in two schemes involving bribery, unlawful foreign influence, and money laundering,” according to a DOJ press release.
Prosecutors said the Cuellars accepted the bribes through “shell companies” owned by Imelda from Socar, Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil firm, and “a bank headquartered in Mexico City.”
Cuellar influenced US foreign policy “in favor of Azerbaijan” and “agreed to influence legislative activity and to advise and pressure high-ranking US Executive Branch officials regarding measures beneficial to the bank” in Mexico, prosecutors stated.
Both the congressman and his wife were hit with two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery of a federal official, two counts of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, two counts of violating the ban on public officials acting as agents of a foreign principal, one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering and five counts of money laundering.
They each face a maximum penalty of up to 204 years in federal prison, but actual sentences often fall well beneath that benchmark.
Rebuttal to claims
Cuellar, a pro-life moderate who has been critical of President Biden’s handling of the border crisis, issued a statement saying he and his wife were “innocent of these allegations” and added that he had acted “consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people.”
A source told NBC News that Cuellar’s congressional staff had reached out to other aides on Friday morning for advice on responding to the imminent charges.
“Henry Cuellar does not put Texas first. He puts himself first,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Delanie Bomar said in a statement. “If his colleagues truly believe in putting ‘people over politics,’ they will call on him to resign.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said in a statement that “Cuellar has admirably devoted his career to public service and is a valued Member of the House Democratic Caucus.”
In January 2022, Cuellar’s home and campaign office in Laredo, Texas, were searched by federal investigators in connection with a larger probe into ties between the former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan and multiple US businessmen.
At the time, Cuellar — a co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus — vowed to “fully cooperate in any investigation.”
That November, the now-68year-old was elected to a 10th House term and concluded his statement Friday by saying: “Let me be clear, I’m running for re-election and will win this November.”
Cuellar also revealed in his Friday statement that he “proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee.”
Joshua Berman, the congressman’s Washington attorney, said in April 2022 that “the Justice Department has informed me that Congressman Cuellar is not a target of the investigation.”
The Post reached out to Berman for comment. The DOJ did not immediately respond to a request.