Israeli tangled up in US bribery case against voting machine firm co-founder

A dual citizen of Israel and Venezuela has been indicted by federal authorities in the US on money laundering charges related to allegations that employees of a voting machine company targeted by allies of former President Donald Trump paid more than $1 million in bribes to officials in the Philippines in exchange for contracts.

The Justice Department says Elie Moreno, 44, faces a maximum of 20 years in jail in the case, which largely resolves around suspicions that Smartmatic co-founder Roger Pinate, 49, a Venezuelan citizen living in Florida, and colleague Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, a US citizen, conspired to funnel money to Juan Donato Bautista, the former chairman of the Commission on Elections in the Philippines

To hide the corrupt payments, the co-conspirators allegedly created a slush fund –codenamed the “Philippines Pot,” according to investigators — and sham loan agreements to justify transfers to bank accounts located in Singapore, Europe and the United States.

Smartmatic in a statement says it has placed Pinate and Vasquez on leaves of absence, effective immediately.

“No voter fraud has been alleged and Smartmatic is not indicted,” the company says. “Voters worldwide must be assured that the elections they participate in are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency.”