LAREDO – For the 20 years he has represented Congressional District 28 Congressman Enrique (Henry) Cuellar has enjoyed heartfelt public recognition and the gratitude of his hometown, his image a mainstay in the local press holding giant cardboard checks he has ceremoniously presented for health services, education, public safety initiatives, and roadway, airport, and international bridge infrastructure.
Despite an FBI raid to his Laredo home and office in January 2022, just weeks before a contentious primary runoff with progressive Democrat Jessica Cisneros, the longtime (two decades) Congressman denied wrongdoing and eked out a mere .6% edge over political newcomer..
The televised optics of the 2022 raid with FBI agents outside Cuellar’s home loading Suburbans with computers and documents, though shocking, dimmed in the memories of his constituency in the two-year period of presumed FBI and DOJ inactivity.
Photo ops for millions in federal funds for Laredo continued, and so did the Federal investigation that yielded the substance of the May 3, 2024 Federal Grand Jury indictment of Congressman Cuellar.
The 54-pages of UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. ENRIQUE ROBERTO “HENRY” CUELLAR and IMELDA RIOS CUELLAR alleges Conspiracy, Bribery, Honest Services Wire Fraud, Public Official Acting as An Agent of A Foreign Principal, Money Laundering Conspiracy, Money Laundering, and Aiding and Abetting.
The indictment meticulously details the two revenue streams the Congressman tapped into in his exchange of information, legislative influence, and official acts in return for money — $360,000 from the oil-rich Republic of Azerbaijan and $238,390 from Banco Azteca in Mexico.
A Laredo attorney who declined to be named in this story likened the indictment to “a steel jacket,” noting that the initial reaction of many Laredoans was one of shock, sympathy, loyalty, and support for the Cuellars, and denial that its allegations could be rooted in the truth.
The indictment is a topic much discussed locally, as is what impact it will will bear on Cuellar’s reelection bid.
The glib, “all-in” tone of the transcripts of Cuellar’s negotiations, the services he agreed to deliver, instructions to the paying parties, and the recruitment of bag men resonates not with the beneficence of the trusted hometown public servant working for his constituents, but rather that of a schemer drinking deeply at the trough of betrayal and illegal gains.
The indictment’s language of bracketed puzzle-piece references to its many players — [Foreign Bank-1], [Consultant-4], [Foreign Oil Company-1], [Diplomat-1], [Shell Company-1], [Relative-1], etc. – reads with the intrigue of a sweeping drama that pivots geographically from shell companies and sham contracts in Laredo created to receive payments for influencing legislative action in D.C., deal-making between Cuellar and representatives of the government of the Eastern Asian Republic of Azerbaijan, Cuellar’s negotiations with representatives of banking interests in Mexico City for legislation for sale, and back to Laredo where the bribe money came to rest in the accounts of the shell companies Imelda Cuellar established as legal entities with the Texas Secretary of State.
According to the indictment, Cuellar and representatives of the foreign oil and gas company owned and controlled by the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan communicated by email and text to formulate the terms of transactions for desired legislative actions requested of Cuellar in return for “bribe payments that were laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar.”
By the commission of such actions, the indictment reads, the Congressman acted as an agent of the Government of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank, a violation of the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), which public officials, including all members of Congress, have a lawful and official duty not to be. An agent of a foreign principal is required to register under FARA.
THE CONGRESSMAN’S PROMISE TO USE THE POWER OF HIS OFFICE
TO HELP AZERBAIJAN YIELDED A RETURN OF $360,000
In return for bribe money, Cuellar allegedly agreed “to influence U.S. foreign policy to favor Azerbaijan in its conflict with neighboring Armenia by inserting language into legislation and committee reports governing certain security and economic aid programs, to deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the House floor, to promote Azerbaijan as an ally and strategic partner of the United States, and to consult with representatives of Azerbaijan regarding their efforts to lobby the United States government.” Cuellar shared with an Azerbaijani diplomat a section of a bill directing the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the Secretary of State, “to develop a strategic framework for United States security force assistance and cooperation in the European and Eurasian regions,” which included Azerbaijan.” When the diplomat requested a meeting with the Department of Defense “to get some focus on the Silk Road region,” Cuellar replied, “I will set up the meeting.”
The indictment alleges that Cuellar also shared by email with the Azerbaijani diplomat “a document summarizing funding in the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Bill related to Europe and Eurasia. Cuellar’s email included the message: ‘We need to follow up for Azerbaijan.’”
The Congressman wrote to a high ranking Executive Branch official accusing Armenia of being a proxy for Russia “to intimidate U.S. partners including Azerbaijan and expressing support for the withdrawal of the military forces” from the Armenian-occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region.
According to Table 1 in the indictment, Henry Cuellar’s legislative efforts on behalf of Azerbaijan netted the Cuellars $360,000 in bribe payments from 12/1/2014 to 3/19/2019. No Laredo bank or banks are named for the conveyed payments for sham-contracted “consulting services,” but the last four digits of the bank accounts of Shell Company-1 and Shell Company-2, are provided as ending in –5101 and -6162, respectively.
INDICTMENT ALLEGES BRIBES IN RETURN FOR LEGISLATION TO LOOSEN RULES FOR BANCO AZTECA’S U.S. PAY DAY LOAN VENUES AND TO FACILITATE THE SPEED OF MEXICAN WIRE TRANSFER OF DOLLARS BACK INTO THE U.S.
The indictment’s Foreign Bank-1, recently revealed to be Banco Azteca, is “a retail banking chain in Mexico City that serves low-income sectors in Mexico and Central America.” It is owned by a Mexican finance and retail holding company that is a member of the Mexican corporate conglomerate owned by the billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego.
U.S. Affiliate-3 referenced in the indictment is TV Azteca, the Spanish-language media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. It is a member of the above referenced Mexican conglomerate that owns predatory payday loan companies in the United States.
The federal indictment alleges that in return for bribe money Cuellar agreed to influence federal legislation to benefit Banco Azteca and its U.S. affiliates by advising and pressuring Executive Branch officials regarding anti-money laundering enforcement, to support legislation to block federal regulation of the predatory payday lending industry; and to support revisions to the criminal money laundering statutes favored by the Mexican corporate conglomerate in need of more quickly “repatriating” vast sums of American dollars.
According to the indictment, Foreign Bank-1 (Banco Azteca) relied on “correspondent banking” relationships to facilitate cross-border transactions. Correspondent banking, the indictment informs, refers to bilateral relationships between banks whereby one bank, the correspondent bank, holds accounts for and provides payment and other services to the other bank, typically located in another country. Beginning in at least 2012, U.S. regulators increased enforcement of the Bank Secrecy Act and other anti-money laundering laws and regulations. This increase in regulatory oversight prompted some U.S. financial institutions to limit or withdraw from correspondent banking relationships with financial institutions in countries perceived to pose a high risk of money-laundering activity, including Mexico.
The indictment explains the phenomenon of “de-risking,” as being “of great concern to Foreign Bank-1 (Banco Azteca), as it impeded the bank’s ability to access the U.S. financial system. In particular, Banco Azteca needed correspondent banking relationships with U.S. banks to help it return large reserves of physical U.S. currency held in Mexico back to the United States and to convert the physical currency to electronic dollars, which Banco Azteca could more readily spend or transfer.”
According to the indictment, Cuellar recruited his longtime associate, Florencio (Lencho) Rendon, the owner of two U.S. consulting firms to be the U.S.-based middleman to “disguise” the bribe payments moving from Banco Azteca into Imelda Cuellar’s Shell Companies 1 and 2 — IRC Business Resources, LLC and Global Gold Group, LLC.
Rendon met with a representative of Banco Azteca to discuss a monthly $12,000 contract payment for Cuellar’s legislative efforts. Rendon would later tell Cuellar that “it was not a good idea” to pay Imelda directly.” Cuellar suggested that Rendon pay his campaign manager, Colin Strother, who would in turn pay Imelda. Cuellar told Rendon that for their trouble he and Strother could each keep $1,000 of the $12,000 monthly “consulting fee.” Rendon wanted more than $1,000 a month, and Cuellar told him to negotiate a higher monthly fee with the Azteca banker who then agreed to a $15,000 a month payment for two years.
Cuellar approached Strother, and Rendon and Strother subsequently met in San Antonio. Rendon told Strother that he was working on a project to “to test, certify, and sell a Mexican fuel lubricant” in the U.S. and offered to pay Strother $11,000 a month if he would make $10,000 monthly payments to Imelda Cuellar’s company.
Beginning in March 2016 Imelda Cuellar emailed Strother falsified invoices for the sham contract for “Project management fee.” The indictment reads, “At that time and during the entire period in which she received payments from Consulting Company-3, Imelda Cuellar performed little or no legitimate work in exchange for the payments.” That she performed little or no work is repeated throughout the indictment.
The sham contract expired at the end of 2017 and was renewed through Rendon for another year. The money MOVED from Azteca Bank to a U.S. affiliate and on to Rendon’s company through to Strother’s consulting company, and into Imelda Cuellar’s shell company.
From 2/22/16 through 1/09/2019 Rendon’s company received a total of $540,000 from Banco Azteca in wire transfers, of which Strother was paid $261,000, from which Strother paid Imelda Cuellar’s company $236,390.
THE LAREDO SHELL COMPANIES
According to records of the Texas Secretary of State, Imelda Cuellar established companies from April 2012 through April 2021. The first, referenced in the indictment as Shell Company-1 was named IRC (Imelda Rios Cuellar) Business Solutions, which commenced operation on April 17, 2012 and was later converted to an LLC on September 23, 2014. Imelda Cuellar is the sole recorded owner of Shell Company-1.
Shell Company-2, appropriately named Global Gold Group, LLC, was formed Nov. 13, 2017 by Imelda Cuellar. She is listed on the Certificate of Formation as 60% owner, with Relative-1 as a 20% owner, and another relative of the Cuellars as 20% owner.
According to the indictment, Henry Cuellar transferred the corrupt agreement from Imelda Cuellar to Relative-1, identified as an adult child of Henry and Imelda Cuellar as the person who incorporated Shell Company-3 on April 30, 2021.
THREE COUNTRIES, MANY CITIES:
D.C.; Mexico City; Baku, Potomac, MD; Laredo, Houston, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Katy, and Buda, Texas
Buda?
Yes, the legislative misadventures of Henry Cuellar detailed in the indictment wended their way to Buda, south of Austin, its name an Anglicized aberration of viuda for the two Mexican widows who cooked for the restaurant at the Carrington Hotel on the International – Great Northern rail line from Austin to Laredo.
Buda is today also known as the home of Colin Strother, the bagman who conveyed Banco Azteca bribe money to Imelda Cuellar’s shell companies.
Strother is Individual-4 in the indictment and referenced as Cuellar’s former campaign manager and chief of staff, the owner and operator of the indictment’s political Consulting Company-3.
Strother is well-known in the political arena for the venomous, poison pen prose he lobs at candidates running in opposition to one of his clients. An unforgettable example was his attempt to villify Jessica Cisneros when her 2022 campaign against Cuellar took on a momentum that looked like and became a formidable threat to the Congressman’s reelection.
Strother’s low-blow communication that was meant to suggest scandal about Cisneros appeared in a mail-out publication that looked like a newspaper, but wasn’t. It showed no owner or place of publication. The only scandal that surfaced from the effort was that Strother and his client would stoop to such means.
THE INDICTMENT: INVITATION TO A PLEA BARGAIN
On March 4, 2024 consultant Florencio (Lencho) Rendon plead guilty to conspiring to launder proceeds of a criminal activity, namely bribery, and agreed to testify as a witness before a grand jury. (Source: Plea Agreement.)
A day later, Colin Strother also plead guilty to conspiring to launder proceeds of a criminal activity, namely bribery, and agreed to testify as a witness before a grand jury. (Source: Plea Agreement.)
On May 1, 2024 Irada Akhoundova, president of the non-profit Houston-Baku Sister City Association, plead guilty to failing to register as a foreign agent for the country of Azerbaijan and its state-owned oil company and for coordinating a $60,000 payment to Imelda Cuellar. (Source: San Antonio Express-News and The Texas Tribune.)
THE CUELLARS’ USE OF PROCEEDS
The indictment cites the Cuellars’ use of bribery proceeds thus: debts, family expenses, and purchases. Funds from Shell Companies-1 and -2, IRC Business Resources, LLC and Global Gold, LLC, respectively, paid $49,053 in federal taxes and $31,662 in state and local taxes, made $58,000 in credit card payments and $11,000 in car payments, covered purchases of over $18,000 at wholesale stores and wholesale credit card payments, purchased a $12,000 gown, made a $7,000 down payment on a new car, paid $27,000 to insurance and telecom companies, and covered expenses of tens of thousands of dollars at restaurants and retail venues.
Additionally, from 6/30/15 to 6/19/2019 Imelda Cuellar made monthly rent payments of $600, sometimes $500, to Henry Cuellar for an office suite at Cuellar’s office at 1519 Washington St. in Laredo. A total of $17,800 in checks drafted from the accounts of Imelda Cuellar’s Shell Companies -1 and -2 were deposited to Henry and Imelda Cuellar’s joint bank accounts ending in -2201 and -7806.
LOCAL OBSERVATIONS
There has been no shortage of commentary and speculation about the indictment, but there was a shortage of Laredoans who were willing to speak on the record. Here are the comments of some who did share their opinions:
People had so much faith in Henry Cuellar, and he did so much for Laredo and South Texas. He really did a lot for TAMIU. In many ways, this is a great tragedy. All this is sad, so very sad. Henry may well be a great candidate for the TV series on American greed. Perhaps Lord Acton was correct: “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
This is my prediction:
Henry will be easily elected in November. Liberal friends tell me it is better to have a corrupt Democrat, even one who is anti-abortion and leans right, than a fascist Republican, regardless of who wins in the runoff, who wants to take Texas more to the right when the Republican ideology in the state is way, way to the right today. Henry will probably plea bargain with the Feds, the Feds agreeing not to prosecute Imelda. He will get a few years in some country club prison somewhere, and Jessica Cisneros will be easily elected in a special election.
– Dr. Jerry Thompson
Author, Historian
Professor of History
I would hope that Henry Cuellar is able to come out of this, that he is able to prove his innocence only because it would be a great loss to this community with the funding he has brought here over the decades that he has helped Laredo in so many areas.
If he is found guilty, it is shameful that he brought his family into this mess.
– Dr. Hector Farias
Community Activist
Like everyone who knows Henry personally, I was shocked to learn that the DOJ working out of Houston decided to file a formal indictment against the Congressman years after raiding his home here in Laredo.
I have extended my thoughts to him and have told him I am here to help him in any way possible. Having been a federal prosecutor in the Department of Justice years ago, I can tell you that a sitting Congressman, especially one running for reelection, cannot be indicted without the consent and the authority of the Attorney General of the United States. The allegations are disturbing, but that is all they are, allegations. The Government must prove each and every element of the violations contained in the indictment if they expect a conviction. Like every citizen facing charges, Congressman Cuellar is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The Congressman does not need the support of a former president who claims that he is a victim of President Biden and the Department of Justice. Anyone familiar with the Constitution must know that the Commander in Chief of the United States cannot and must not legally order anyone to indict a political opponent.
– David Almaraz
Attorney at Law
When will we have real public servants who do not put their own interests above the needs of those who put them in office? For those who think public corruption ended after the Martin era, think again. We have lived with it for decades. The allegations in the Cuellar indictment are very serious. Those who have dismissed them as a political witch hunt and who have not tried to understand their severity are doing a great disservice to themselves and the entire community.
It is our job to hold elected officials to a high standard of integrity, and it is theirs to perform to that expectation.
– Jorge Santana
Business Owner
I read all 54 pages of the indictment more than once. Why would Henry Cuellar gamble against what he spent decades building for himself, his family, and his community? Should the extent of his alleged bribery schemes and other violations of federal law be proven, he will have lost far more than what he gained financially. I don’t wish a bad ending for anyone, but this appears to be a shameful mess. Transgressions such as those in the indictment bear legal repercussions.
These words from the writing of the Spanish novelist Carlos Ruiz Zafón seem germane to this outrageous betrayal of the public trust: “You don’t realize the greed in your soul until someone jingles the silver in front of you.
– Dr. Carlos Valle
Retired Educator
