CNN
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Rep. Henry Cuellar’s former marketing campaign supervisor and one other political operative have agreed to plead responsible to federal crimes and are cooperating with the Justice Department’s prosecution of the Texas Democrat, in accordance with courtroom paperwork unsealed Wednesday.
Mina Colin Strother, Cuellar’s former marketing campaign supervisor and former chief of employees, and Florencio “Lencho” Rendon, a political marketing consultant and businessman from San Antonio, agreed to plead responsible to conspiracy to commit cash laundering in March.
Cuellar and his spouse, Imelda, had been indicted final week on suspicion of accepting practically $600,000 in bribes from two international entities – a financial institution headquartered in Mexico Metropolis and an oil and gasoline firm owned by the federal government of Azerbaijan.
Each the congressman and his spouse have pleaded not responsible. Cuellar has publicly asserted his innocence, saying in a press release final week that “each my spouse and I are harmless of those allegations. All the things I’ve accomplished in Congress has been to serve the individuals of South Texas.”
In response to courtroom paperwork, Rendon and Cuellar concocted the bribery scheme in 2015 after studying that the Mexican financial institution wanted assist doing enterprise inside the USA. Rendon signed on to a phony “consulting settlement” with the financial institution for $15,000 per 30 days, prosecutors say.
Many of the cash was finally despatched to the Cuellars, prosecutors allege, however Rendon didn’t assume it was a good suggestion to ship cash on to Imelda.
Cuellar then steered recruiting Strother as a intermediary, prosecutors say. The alleged plot developed into an association the place Rendon would ship $11,000 per 30 days to Strother, who in flip would ship $10,000 to an organization owned by Imelda Cuellar, in accordance with courtroom paperwork.
From March 2016 to February 2018, Strother transferred practically $215,000 to Cuellar’s spouse, in accordance with courtroom filings.
The Cuellars aren’t named in Strother’s and Rendon’s plea deal agreements, however each of their case numbers are listed as associated instances to Cuellar’s in courtroom information. Particular particulars specified by the plea agreements additionally precisely match particulars within the indictment towards Cuellar.
CNN has reached out to attorneys for Rendon and Strother for remark in addition to an lawyer for Cuellar.