Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife were indicted by a federal grand jury on bribery, foreign influence, and money-laundering charges, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Friday.
The Texas Democrat and his wife are accused of accepting roughly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities starting in December 2014 and continuing through 2021. The foreign entities are a Mexican bank and an oil and gas company linked to the government of Azerbaijan, according to the Justice Department.
In exchange for the bribes, Cuellar agreed to use his office for promoting favorable U.S. foreign policy towards Azarbaijan and pushing legislative and executive branch officials to adopt policy measures beneficial to the bank, authorities said.
Cuellar and his wife Imelda are each being charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery of a federal official and to have a public official act as an agent of a foreign principal, two counts of bribery of a federal official, two counts of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, two counts of violating the ban on public officials acting as agents of a foreign principal, one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering, and five counts of money laundering, according to the Justice Department.
Both of them face potentially decades-long prison sentences if convicted. The lucrative payments were laundered through shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar in accordance with phony consulting contracts, according to the Justice Department. The Cuellars made their initial court appearance in Houston federal court Friday.
In 2022, Cuellar’s home and office were searched during a federal investigation into Azerbaijan and American businessmen linked to the Middle Eastern nation. Cuellar formerly co-chaired the congressional Azerbaijan caucus.
Cuellar issued a statement denying wrongdoing after NBC News first reported Friday morning that the Justice Department’s was planning to unseal the indictment.
“I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations,” Cuellar said. “The actions I took in Congress were consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people.”
“Furthermore, we requested a meeting with the Washington DC prosecutors to explain the facts and they refused to discuss the case with us or hear our side.”
Cuellar said he still intends to run for reelection in Texas’s competitive 28th district.
He was victorious in 2022 with 56 percent of the vote over his Republican challenger in the heavily Latino district after narrowly winning the Democratic primary against progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros. Two years prior, Cuellar also won a close primary against Cisneros, a former Cuellar intern and immigration attorney backed by progressive campaign arm Justice Democrats.
This time around, Cuellar did not have a competitive primary. Towards the end of May, two Republican candidates will be competing in a runoff primary election to decide Cuellar’s general election opponent.
A longtime moderate Democrat, Cuellar has long been the source of frustration among progressives for occasionally bucking the party as a member of the centrist Blue Dog coalition. He is Catholic and opposes Democratic efforts to legalize abortions in the third trimester.
Over the course of President Joe Biden’s term, Cuellar has voted with the administration more than 95 percent of the time.
Cuellar could face a similar fate to embattled Senator Bob Menendez (D., N.J), who is facing numerous federal charges for allegedly participating in a bribery scheme involving the governments of Egypt and Qatar.
Once he was indicted, Menendez tanked in the polls and subsequently announced that he will not run for reelection as a Democrat after widespread calls for his resignation.
A spokesperson for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) announced Cuellar will be on leave from his position as ranking member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. Jeffries did not call for Cuellar to resign.