Federal prosecutors in South Florida allege that Venezuelan American tech executive Roger Peñate, cofounder of Smartmatic, secretly bribed Venezuela‘s longtime elections chief, Tibisay Lucena Ramírez. He gave her control of a luxury residence in Caracas for political favors.
It is alleged that this was the usual way of doing business. How is that possible we were told Smartmatic was pristine pure?
The bribe was tied to an accusation that Nicholas Maduro‘s regime committed fraud in an assembly election. It caused Smartmatic to end their operations in the country.
This bribe allegation will be used by Miami federal prosecutors as evidence against Peñate. He is charged with multiple counts of money laundering, and bribery related to contracts in the Philippines.
The government apparently has photographs, witnesses and encrypted text messages as evidence against him. He allegedly had a co-conspirator and a shell company. The fraud seems to trace back to Smartmatic as well as him.