Puerto Rico’s Ex-Governor Arrested on Bribery Charges Over Alleged Election Campaign Finance Scheme

The former governor of Puerto Rico was arrested Thursday in San Juan on bribery charges related to the alleged financing of her 2020 reelection campaign, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced.

Wanda Vázquez Garced, a member of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party who had previously promised to fight corruption, was scheduled to appear in federal court on Aug. 4 in Puerto Rico.

“I am innocent. I have not committed any crime,” she told reporters on Thursday. “I assure you that they have committed a great injustice against me.”

Vázquez Garced is accused of accepting campaign services worth over $300,000 from the head of an international bank in exchange for firing the head of a regulatory office that was investigating the bank.

She was serving as governor at the time and was running for reelection when she allegedly accepted the bribe.

According to the indictment, Vázquez Garced engaged in the alleged bribery scheme from December 2019 through June 2020 when she was serving as governor and running for reelection. Four other people were allegedly involved:

Julio Martin Herrera Velutini, 50, owned an international bank operating in San Juan at the time, and Frances Diaz, also 50, was the president and CEO of the same bank. Mark Rossini, 60, was a former FBI special agent who provided consulting services to Herrera Velutini, and John Blakeman, 53, was a political consultant who worked on Vázquez Garced’s 2020 reelection campaign.

‘Accepted the Offer of a Bribe’

The indictment alleges that starting in 2019, Herrera Velutini’s bank became the subject of an examination by Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF), a regulatory agency that oversees financial institutions operating in Puerto Rico.

Prosecutors say Herrera Velutini and Rossini promised to finance Vázquez Garced’s 2020 gubernatorial campaign if she agreed that she would appoint a new commissioner of Herrera Velutini’s choosing to take over the regulatory

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