Voting Machine Company Smartmatic Indicted By Federal Prosecutors – Faces Bribery And Money Laundering Allegations

Federal prosecutors have charged voting technology firm Smartmatic with bribery and money laundering.

“Prosecutors in Miami have charged voting tech firm Smartmatic over $1 million in bribes allegedly paid to officials in the Philippines,” Associated Press reporter Joshua Goodman said.

“Three Smartmatic executives, including its co-founder, were charged in 2024 but at the time the company was not named as a defendant,” he added.

NEW: Prosecutors in Miami have charged voting tech firm Smartmatic over $1 million in bribes allegedly paid to officials in the Philippines.

Three Smartmatic executives, including its co-founder, were charged in 2024 but at the time the company was not named as a defendant.

— Joshua Goodman (@APjoshgoodman) October 16, 2025

More from the Associated Press:

The criminal case is unfolding as Smartmatic is pursuing a $2.7 billion lawsuit accusing Fox News of defamation for airing false claims that the company helped rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump.

Smartmatic in a statement denied the allegations and said it believed the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami had been misled and politically influenced by unnamed powerful interests.

“This is again, targeted, political, and unjust,” the company said. “Smartmatic will continue to stand by its people and principles. We will not be intimidated by those pulling the strings of power.”

BREAKING:

Miami federal grand jury indicts Smartmatic

“Voting-technology provider Smartmatic was charged Thursday with conspiring to bribe foreign officials and money laundering over a decade-old effort to win business in the Philippines.”https://t.co/7QJVN0GYDL

— Mike Davis (@mrddmia) October 16, 2025

Co-founder Roger Pinate, who no longer works for the company but remains a shareholder, pleaded not guilty.

“The superseding indictment charges SGO Corporation Limited—which, together with the entities within its corporate structure, is commonly known as ‘Smartmatic’ or the ‘Smartmatic Group’—as well as three of its executives and the former Chairman of the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) of the Republic of the Philippines. The four individuals were initially indicted in August 2024,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida wrote.

Voting Machine Company Charged in Philippine Bribery and Money Laundering Scheme
https://t.co/tt4pqZwKJ2@HSI_Miami @IRSCI_Miami pic.twitter.com/ck1RJCc860

— US Attorney SDFL (@USAO_SDFL) October 16, 2025

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The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida explained further:

According to the superseding indictment, between 2015 and 2018, Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, 50, a Venezuelan citizen residing in Boca Raton, and Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 64, of Davie, together with others, caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, 61, the former Chairman of COMELEC. The bribes were allegedly paid to obtain and retain business from COMELEC, including the release of favorable value added tax (VAT) reimbursements and other contractual payments for the benefit of SGO Corporation Limited and its affiliates.

To finance the bribes, the co-conspirators allegedly created a slush fund by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine supplied for the 2016 Philippine elections. To conceal the corrupt payments, they used coded language, created fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements, and routed transactions through bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including within the Southern District of Florida.

SGO Corporation Limited, Piñate, and Vasquez are charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). Piñate and Vasquez are charged with one count of violating the FCPA. Additionally, SGO Corporation Limited, Bautista, Piñate, Vasquez, and Elie Moreno, 45, a dual citizen of Venezuela and Israel, are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international laundering of monetary instruments. If convicted, Bautista, Piñate, Vasquez, and Moreno each face a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for each count of international laundering of monetary instruments and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Piñate and Vasquez face a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each of the FCPA and conspiracy to violate the FCPA counts. Bautista and Moreno are fugitives and remain at large.