Smartmatic Corporation was a multinational election voting machine and service provider company headquartered in the United Kingdom. Smartmatic was privately held under an unnamed parent holding company and maintained at least one unnamed subsidiary based in Florida and one unnamed joint venture based in the Philippines within its corporate structure.
Juan Andres Donato Bautista was the Chairman of (COMELEC), which as an independent agency mandated to enforce and administer election laws in the Philippines.
Roger Alejando Pinate Martinez (Pinate), a citizen of Venezuela, was a co-founder, Chief Operating Officer, and President of Smartmatic. He was also on the board of directors of the holding company and an employee of the unnamed subsidiary.
Jorge Miguel Vasquez, a citizen of the United States, was an executive for the unnamed subsidiary who managed hardware development and manufacturing worldwide for Smartmatic.
Elie Moreno, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, was a Smartmatic executive involved in managing Smartmatic and its unnamed joint venture's contracts with COMELEC in the Philippines.
According to the documents in the case, between May 2015 and February 2018, Pinate and Vasquez conspired with others to pay bribes of approximately $1,000,000 to Bautista in order to obtain three separate contracts worth approximately $182,351,868 to provide thousands of voting machines to the Philippines in connection with the country's 2016 elections for President, Vice President, and other official positions. As part of the conspiracy, the DOJ alleges that all four defendants attempted to conceal the bribes by using fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements with various shell companies and employing coded language to refer to a slush fund used to pay the bribes.
On August 8, 2024, the DOJ filed a four count indictment in the Southern District of Florida against Bautista, Pinate, Vasquez, and Moreno alleging conspiracies to violate the antibribery provisions of the FCPA and to commit money laundering as well as direct violations of the antibribery provisions of the FCPA and money laundering laws.
On March 12, 2025, the defendants moved for a continuance of pending deadlines while the DOJ reviewed the case in light of President Trump's February 10, 2025, executive order pausing enforcement of the FCPA. On March 25, the court granted the motion, extending deadlines for 30 days.
On April 28, 2025, Pinate filed three motions to dismiss on the grounds that there was no evidence of quid pro quo bribery alleged, three of the counts failed to state an offense, and four of the counts lacked venue. On May 1, Vasquez moved to join those motions.
Pinate and Vazquez's trial is currently scheduled to start on October 10, 2025.
This case is ongoing.
