FACT-CHECK: Smartmatic Indicted?

Usually when I see a headline too wild to be true, it usually is — fake, that is.

Also, when I see that same wild story being shared from only ONE website that I’ve never heard of before, that’s usually the final confirmation that the story is fake.

We had both of those elements here in this story, but I have kind of a surprising “Fact Check” to show you here.

This was the Tweet I first saw that caught my attention:

BREAKING: The voting machine company that sued Mike Lindell, Rudy Giuliani, Fox News, and Newsmax for defamation about the 2020 election has been implicated in a bribery scheme, according to a new indictment from the DOJ.

— Leading Report (@LeadingReport) September 25, 2023

Then I saw Mike Lindell Tweet about it here:

The corruption is all coming out. Help secure our elections now at Lindell Offense Fund. https://t.co/1VuZvQzkkr

— Mike Lindell (@realMikeLindell) September 25, 2023

Dozens of people started posting the same thing.

Problem is, all the posts went to “YourNews.com” — a site I’ve never heard of:

The DOJ has indicted SmartMatic –the software provider that all US election tabulation machines are built on– for accepting bribes in violation of U.S. money laundering statutes, specifically for rigging elections in the Philippines.https://t.co/iNNNtJXAxT

— Gurg (@Gurg72094379) September 24, 2023

And that was the ONLY site covering the story — until I show you what I found on CNN, which I’ll do just a bit further down below.

So I’ve already got two red flags and then here was the third red flag — the story and the Tweets claim that “Smartmatic was Indicted”.

I’m no legal scholar, but I’m pretty sure you can only Indict people, not companies.

So there’s red flag number 3.

Red flag number 4 was Patrick Byrne slithering up into the middle of this story.

At first I didn’t know what to make of Patrick Byrne.

I wanted to like him…

Wanted to beLIEve him….

And yet, nothing ever quite seemed to make sense with him.

But who’s at the center of this story?

PByrne of course!

First he posts this:

https://t.co/LXE5xYS6Q9

I’m about to do my most important video. DOJ has indicted Smartmatic for rigging a Philippine election. I’m involved in the background and will explain it. Give me 30 minutes to look presentable.

spread the word and read:https://t.co/KAUuCjL2HH

— Patrick Byrne (@PatrickByrne) September 24, 2023

So there is Byrne saying this is his most important video ever and that the DOJ has indicted Smartmatic.

Then he says he’s “involved in the background” whatever that means.

He later clarified:

I wish to clarify: I have not been cooperating with DOJ and take no credit for this criminal referral.

I’ve been running down 1 path. There are (as I told you) still honest folk at DOJ, and they ran down a parallel path. Nothing between us but a wave through mutual friends. https://t.co/oYjSRK4QRY

— Patrick Byrne (@PatrickByrne) September 25, 2023

He further clarified that “indictment” wasn’t the right word (as I told you above):

Also, though CNN URL used “indictment” it turns out to be a criminal referral. And it’s not against Smartmatic but against the Filipino elections commission guy they were in bed with (but it does point at four as yet “unindicted co-conspirators”).

I do know the case though.

— Patrick Byrne (@PatrickByrne) September 25, 2023

Then he posted this video:

🚨BREAKING🚨@PatrickByrne:
"I’m about to do my most important video.
DOJ has indicted Smartmatic for rigging a Philippine election.
I’m involved in the background and will explain it.
THESE GUYS ARE DONE" pic.twitter.com/qw3dqMd1FS

— Phil Scarborough (@phsjr1) September 24, 2023

Ok…..so I know you’re saying “Noah, tell us the bottom line here….what’s going on?”

Is the story true?

Is there smoke or fire here?

Well, good thing you’ve got us on the case because I didn’t stop here.

Turns out there IS something real here, just not the headlines that “YourNews.com” tried to peddle.

That site appears to be mostly BS.

Here’s the real scoop, and oddly enough I go now to CNN for the “real scoop” on this one — from 3 days ago, here’s what’s actually going on, and it DOES involve Smartmatic at least tangentially and it does involve criminal charges, according to CNN:

Smartmatic, the voting technology company suing Fox News and former President Donald Trump’s top allies over their false claims that its machines rigged the 2020 election, was implicated in an alleged bribery scheme involving the former top election official in the Philippines, according to court filings obtained by CNN.

The court documents indicate that the Justice Department has filed money laundering charges against former Filipino election administrator Andres Bautista – and that four executives from Smartmatic subsidiaries are implicated as uncharged co-conspirators.

The bribery claims are sure to reverberate in Smartmatic’s ongoing defamation cases. Trump allies repeatedly peddled the lie that the company manipulated the results in 2020, despite the fact that its machines were only used in one California county that year.

Smartmatic spokeswoman Samira Saba said in a statement that the Florida-based company “has never won a project through any illegal means” and stressed that the claims in the Bautista case are “not related to Smartmatic election security or integrity.”

Smartmatic filed massive defamation suits against Fox News, Newsmax, OAN, several individual Fox hosts, ex-Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and others. They all deny wrongdoing.

Some of these pro-Trump figures have tried to push back against the defamation suits by highlighting Smartmatic’s ties to Venezuela and its involvement in foreign elections.

OAN recently asked a judge to let them seek records from the Philippines government and other countries as part of the discovery process, claiming they have files about “investigations… scandals.. and major problems” involving Smartmatic machines.

The Smartmatic co-conspirators in the Philippines-related criminal case aren’t identified by name in the court filing obtained by CNN, which says they allegedly “caused or attempted” to funnel $4 million to Bautista “in violation of US money laundering laws.”

According to the charging documents, the Smartmatic executives used “slush funds” and “fake contracts” to facilitate alleged bribes and masked their actions with phony email accounts. “Salsa” was their code word for “money,” the documents alleged.

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Bautista awarded $199 million in contracts to Smartmatic for about 94,000 voting machines and to handle the results of the Philippines’ presidential election in 2016.

“I did not ask for nor receive any bribe money from Smartmatic or any other entity,” Bautista posted Thursday on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that the elections he oversaw were “hailed” by observers as being the “best managed” in Filipino history.

He also said he would “respond to the alleged charges at the proper forum and time.” The criminal charges were filed Tuesday, according to the court filing. There is no indication that Bautista is currently in US custody.

Saba, the Smartmatic spokeswoman, said, “winning a bid in the Philippines is never solely one individual’s preference or decision” and that the company has “both won and lost bids in the Philippines” over the years.

The new allegations of corrupt foreign dealings could boost the defense for Fox News and the other Trump allies currently fighting Smartmatic in court. They could argue that it wasn’t their lies about the 2020 election that caused Smartmatic to lose business, but rather the company’s reputation was tarnished by the allegedly criminal behavior of some of its employees.

The criminal complaint against Bautista doesn’t accuse Smartmatic of tampering with election results in the Philippines or any other jurisdiction. A State Department report concluded that the 2016 elections in the Philippines “were generally free and fair.”

A spokesperson for the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, where the charges against Bautista were filed, did not respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

But we’re not stopping there….

I have what I believe is the entire court filling for you, which you can read here:

So….bottom line: has Smartmatic been indicted?

No.

But…have criminal charges been filed and does this closely relate to Smartmatic?

It appears that is a yes.

As always, we have a system of innocent until proven guilty here in the United States, or at least we used to.

It’s unclear if we still have that system if you’re a conservative or member of MAGA, but for anyone on the Left I’m sure they will be afforded all benefit of the doubt and all defenses available to them.