Corrupt Puerto Rico Legislator to be sentenced after being found guilty of fraud, theft, bribery, conspiracy, receiving kickbacks, more
On Friday, a federal jury convicted a Puerto Rico legislator and her husband for engaging in a years-long theft, bribery, and kickback conspiracy scheme to fraudulently inflate the salary of a legislative assistant in exchange for a kick-backed portion of the assistant’s inflated salary.
From early 2017 until July 2020, María Milagros Charbonier-Laureano, aka “Tata”, a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, along with her husband, Orlando Montes-Rivera, and her assistant, Frances Acevedo-Ceballos, executed a scheme to defraud the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico by engaging in a theft, bribery, and kickback scheme. Over the course of the scheme, Charbonier-Laureano inflated Acevedo-Ceballos’s salary from $800 on a bi-weekly, after-tax basis to nearly $2,900.
Out of every inflated paycheck, it was agreed that Acevedo-Ceballos would keep a portion, and kick back between $1,000 and $1,500 to Charbonier-Laureano and Montes-Rivera. Prosecutors said that Charbonier raised Acevedo’s bi-weekly salary from $800 to almost $3,000 in exchange for the $1,000 to $1,500 kickback or each paycheck.
After learning of the investigation into illegal activities in her office and of a warrant that had been obtained for one of her phones, Charbonier-Laureano proceeded to delete certain data on the phone. Reportedly, Charbonier-Laureano deleted nearly the entire call log, nearly all WhatsApp messages, and nearly all iMessages associated with the phone.
Representative María Milagros Charbonier was arrested by the FBI in Puerto Rico in August 2020 for reportedly accepting at least $100,000 in bribes. The Puerto Rico lawmaker along with her husband were arrested following an FBI corruption probe after she “earned at least $100k in kickbacks for boosting her assistant’s salary.”
The jury convicted Charbonier-Laureano and Montes-Rivera of:
- one count of conspiracy;
- two counts of theft, bribery, and kickbacks concerning programs receiving federal funds;
- six counts of honest services wire fraud; and
- two counts of money laundering.
The jury also convicted Charbonier-Laureano of obstruction of justice for destroying data on her cell phone. Charbonier’s attorney vowed to appeal the verdict, according to The San Juan Daily Star.
Charbonier-Laureano and Montes-Rivera are scheduled to be sentenced on April 10 and face a maximum penalty of:
- five years in prison on the conspiracy count;
- a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each federal funds theft, bribery, and kickbacks count;
- a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each honest services wire fraud count; and
- a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on each money laundering count.
Charbonier-Laureano also faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison on the obstruction of justice count.
Acevedo-Ceballos pleaded guilty on November 7, 2023, to federal funds bribery and is scheduled to be sentenced on February 5, 2024.
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(Source: Department of Justice)
Cover photo of María Milagros Charbonier, Image credit: YouTube)
Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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