Consultants close to Rep. Henry Cuellar plead guilty to conspiracy
Source: CBS News/AP
May 9, 2024 / 5:50 PM EDT
An aide to Rep. Henry Cuellar and a political and business consultant have agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to help the Democratic congressman from Texas launder more than $200,000 in bribes and to assist prosecutors in a federal criminal investigation, according to court documents unsealed this week.
Federal court records show Mina Colin Strother, Cuellar's former congressional aide, and Florencio "Lencho" Rendon, a political and business strategist, entered guilty pleas in March. Rendon and Strother both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, facing up to 20 years in prison and up to five years in prison, respectively, and fines. Their plea deals also guarantee their cooperation in the Justice Department's investigation into Cuellar and his wife.
The San Antonio Express-News first reported the guilty pleas.
Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Rios Cuellar, have been indicted on more than a dozen charges alleging they accepted close to $600,000 in bribes from a Mexican bank and an oil company owned by the government of Azerbaijan, in exchange for promoting the bank and energy company's interests. Federal prosecutors allege 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.
Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/henry-cuellar-consultants-plead-guilty/
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