Following President Trump’s February 10, 2025 pause on all Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) enforcement matters, on April 9, 2015, federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida informed the court of their plan to proceed with an FCPA case against two executives accused of paying bribes to Philippines official Juan Andres Donato Bautista. Bautista was an election official who served as the Philippines’ Chairman of the Commission on Elections (“COMELEC”) between 2015 and 2017. According to the Notice filed by federal prosecutors, the decision to proceed to trial was made after the Department of Justice conducted a detailed review of the case.
On August 8, 2024, the DOJ announced that three executives of an unnamed UK-based voting machine and service provider were accused of paying approximately $1 million in bribes to Bautista in order to secure contracts to provide voting machines and other services for the Philippines’ 2016 elections. According to reports by several media outlets, the executives worked for or on behalf of Smartmatic. According to the DOJ, bribes were paid from a “slush fund” created by overcharging for the cost of voting machines. The defendants also allegedly created “fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements to justify” the transfer of funds. Two of the Smartmatic executives, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez and Jorge Miguel Vasquez, have been charged with one count of violating the FCPA and one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA. Bautista, Pinate, Vasquez, and a third Smartmatic executive, Elie Moreno, have each been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of money laundering for their alleged roles in the scheme.
DOJ – Notice for Authorization to Proceed | DOJ Press Release – August 4, 2024 | Indictment