US prosecutors charge voting tech company Smartmatic in alleged bribery scheme

(Reuters) - Voting technology company Smartmatic was charged in US federal court in Florida on Thursday, Oct. 16, with money laundering and other crimes, in an alleged foreign bribery conspiracy involving three of its former executives to secure business in the Philippines.

Federal prosecutors named Smartmatic parent SGO Corp as a defendant in the ongoing criminal prosecution filed in 2024 against three former executives for their alleged roles in the scheme.

Prosecutors have alleged the executives funneled $1 million in bribes between 2015 and 2018 to a former Philippine election official, also a defendant, to obtain business.

Smartmatic in a statement on Thursday called the charges “wrong on the facts and wrong on the law.” The company said it will contest the claims, and was confident it will prevail.

“We believe the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida has been misled and politically influenced by powerful interests, despite our extensive cooperation with the government,” Smartmatic said. “This is again, targeted, political, and unjust.”

Federal prosecutors in Miami did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Smartmatic's president and co-founder, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, and others charged have pleaded not guilty. Pinate has called the indictment legally deficient and asked a court to dismiss it.

Prosecutors said the bribes were paid through a slush fund created by over-invoicing voting machine costs for the 2016 Philippine elections and then disguised in financial documents using coded language.

The indictment comes as Smartmatic is suing Fox Corp and commentators for $2.7 billion damages for allegedly defaming it with false claims that its machines rigged the 2020 US presidential election.

Fox has denied the allegations, saying its coverage of newsworthy allegations against Smartmatic was fair and protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution.

(Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Gregorio)