San Juan.- Federal Court Judge Silvia Carreño dismissed on Tuesday the case in which former Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez pleaded guilty to corruption, following the pardon by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Carreño granted the dismissal request filed by the federal Prosecutor’s Office, which argued that after the United States Department of Justice published the pardon signed by Trump, the sentences would become academic and the process would be “non-justiciable”.
Also, it dropped the charges against Venezuelan banker Julio Herrera Velutini and advisor Mark Rossini.
«The defendants in this case got what many facing a criminal trial want, but only a few have been granted», the judge’s order stated.
Last week, the Court denied the request to suppress the recommendation of a one-year prison sentence as a sentence for the former governor of Puerto Rico, Wanda Vázquez, found guilty of a corruption case related to a donation during the 2020 election campaign, and the request to postpone the sentencing hearing.
Judge Silvia Carreño rejected at that time Vázquez’s defense’s request to eliminate the sentencing recommendation of one year in prison filed by the federal Prosecutor’s Office, after the pardon.
For her part, the governor of Puerto Rico, Jenniffer González, emphasized last week that former Puerto Rican governor Wanda Vázquez pleaded guilty and received a sentence for a corruption case, following Trump’s pardon.
«The granting of this presidential pardon does not erase the seriousness of the admitted acts, nor does it silence the echo of a stage that proved deeply painful and shameful for Puerto Rico», the governor asserted.
The Case Against Wanda Vasquez
Vázquez, who was the first executive of the archipelago between 2019 and 2021, objected to the one-year prison sentence requested by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Puerto Rico. The sentencing hearing had been postponed on several occasions and was scheduled for January 29.
The former governor pleaded guilty in August to accepting promises of contributions from a foreigner for her political campaign, in violation of the federal Electoral Campaign Law.
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Vázquez, who thus became the first former governor to be convicted in Puerto Rico, although of a less serious crime, is accused along with Julio Herrera Velutini, owner of Bancrédito International Bank, and former FBI agent Mark Rossini, who also reached a plea agreement.
Before these plea agreements, the three faced charges of conspiracy, federal program bribery, and wire fraud, for which they could have been sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison.
According to the formal accusation issued at the time, Herrera and Rossini allegedly paid more than $300,000 to political advisors in support of Vázquez’s 2020 election campaign.
In exchange, the former governor removed the head of the Office of the Commissioner of Financial Institutions (OCIF), which was investigating Herrera’s bank.
