Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife were indicted on more than a dozen federal charges alleging they took hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from an oil company owned by the government of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank, the Justice Department said Friday.
The 54-page indictment filed in federal district court in Houston was unsealed Friday and charges Cuellar with 14 counts including conspiracy, bribery, and money laundering. He is also accused of acting as a foreign agent to benefit the government of Azerbaijan.
Federal prosecutors allege that Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Rios Cuellar, accepted at least $598,000 in bribes from the Azerbaijani oil and gas company and the bank, which is headquartered in Mexico City. They allege that the bribes were laundered in the form of sham consulting contracts through front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar. The congressman’s wife, according to the indictment, “performed little or no legitimate” work under the consulting contracts.
Prosecutors said in exchange for the bribes, Cuellar agreed to use the “power and prestige of his office” to advance the interests of Azerbaijan and the foreign bank, which was unidentified in the indictment.
NBC News was first to report that the indictment was expected Friday. The congressman indicated in a statement before the charges were made public that he and his wife were facing criminal counts and said they are innocent.
The congressman said he will continue to seek reelection to the House in November.
