Rep. Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas, and his wife were accused of participating in a year-long $600,000 bribery scheme involving Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank, according to a federal indictment unsealed Friday in Houston.
Mr. Cuellar, 68, and his wife Imelda, 67, are accused of corruption and money laundering in connection with their efforts on behalf of a Mexico City-based bank and an energy company owned by Azerbaijan, according to the 54-page complaint.
Mr. Cuellar is also accused of acting as an agent of a foreign entity while serving as a representative of the U.S. government.
Payments made from 2014 to 2021 were laundered through “fictitious consulting contracts,” shell companies and front companies owned by Ms. Cuellar, who performed “little or no legitimate work” under the contracts, they said. wrote lawyers for the Justice Department’s criminal division.
Mr. Cuellar “agreed to influence legislative activity and to advise and lobby senior officials in the U.S. executive branch regarding measures beneficial to the bank,” prosecutors said.
Mr. Cuellar is one of the most conservative Democrats in the House and his party’s only anti-abortion member in the House. The charges are similar to those against Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, who is accused of accepting bribes on behalf of Egyptian companies.
In a pre-indictment statement, Mr. Cuellar maintained his innocence and said he had authorized his wife’s work with the ethics committee. He promised to run and win re-election despite the accusations.
“I want to be clear that my wife and I are innocent of these allegations,” Mr. Cuellar said. “Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas.”
“Before taking any action,” he added, “I proactively requested a legal opinion from the House Ethics Committee, which gave me more than one written opinion, as well as additional opinion from a national law firm.”
Mr. Cuellar said he tried to meet with federal prosecutors in Washington to explain his side of the story, but they declined the meeting.
The FBI raided Mr. Cuellar’s Laredo home in 2022, but he still won a narrow primary victory against a more progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros.
Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, said Mr. Cuellar would step down as the top Democrat on the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee while he fights the charges.
“Henry Cuellar has admirably dedicated his career to public service and is a valued member of the House Democratic Caucus,” said Jeffries spokeswoman Christie Stephenson. “Like every American, Congressman Cuellar has the right to his appearance in court and the presumption of innocence throughout the legal process. »
