Beneficial campaign fundraiser signed by Governor Federal Request Agreement

Fundraiser to campaign against the governor’s rivals Peter Pierre LucyJoseph “Joey” Fuentes pleads guilty tomorrow Thursday to concealing or defrauding Super Pac, Save Puerto Rico, of concealing the appearance of funds obtained in violation of federal election law and the Criminal Code.

This was announced by the Federal Attorney’s Office when Judge Joseph Laplande warned the press about the procedures to cover up the trial, which is set to take place this Thursday at 9:00 am.

Fuentes, who lives in Virginia, signed a petition last Thursday, April 28, in which he acknowledged that he had received genuine donors of $ 495,000, Salvemos Puerto Rico, and had made advertisements in support of Pierluisi.

There are text messages in the federal prosecutor’s office indicating a conspiracy to cover up the appearance of these funds.

“I told them to open it [la OSFL-1 y la OSFL-2] So avoid having more than one company contribute and merge. “According to the criminal complaint, Fuentes wrote a letter to an unidentified person two days before the two companies merged.

These are non-profit organizations The foundation for progress Y Equality Foundation, Recorded June 10, 2020.

These companies were registered in their name without any person, but aimed at the same company as the coordinator. For this reason, on August 4, 2020, the then Secretary of State Elmer Roman Gonzalez canceled them.

Subsequently, as the court compelled to reverse the judgment, the case was filed and the issue was rectified Alvaro Pilar Vilagn, former director of the Ports Authority, as co-ordinator.

Companies do not have a physical address, which is required by law. Later, they registered the Caribbean office building, Suite 601 Call Los Palmeras 53 San Juan, as the designated office. Lawyer and Government Contractor Walter Alomer’s Doing Business Puerto Rico (DBPR) Same Address. El Nuevo Día called the DBPR registration phone number, but they did not answer and Alomer did not answer questions asked by email.

The newspaper contacted Pilar Vilacron, who expressed surprise at the agreement reached with Fuentes and Fuentes. At Fuentes’ request, he accused his participation in these companies of being merely a “spokesman”. He acknowledged that Fuentes and he had a friendly relationship with the governor.

“The reason these companies were created was because they saw the persecution of former Governor Wanda Vasquez Corset; people were afraid that their name would come out against the governor.Pilar Vilagron justified the corporation of these companies.

Pilar Vilagran insisted that, at all times, he thought they were in compliance with the law because foundations and companies have the power to make donations to Bach without financial limitations.

Others have been involved in the disappointment

Save Puerto Rico assigns criminal complaint liability to 2 and 3 persons involved in a campaign to cover up the appearance of election funding. “You can not trust Wanda Vazquez!” There were advertisements with such phrases. And “For Wanda Vasquez, the state is not a priority.”

Federal prosecutors describe “Personal-2” as a non-profit secretary based on a commercial bank account. Pilar Vilagn alleged that he did not know who the secretary of the Foundation for Progress and the Equality Foundation was because he was not one of the accredited organizations and that he had only joined as a spokesman at Fuentes’ request.

On August 9, 2020, the date of the election in Puerto Rico, Fuentes texted: “I do not want to have any kind of communication because you do not know whether the central banks have withheld taxes. You have to handle this very carefully.

After raising $ 200,000 through one of those companies, the secretary of those companies texted Fuentes on October 16 that he would send donations to PAC.

On the same day, Fuentes responded to a potential donor who wished to contribute anonymously to the campaign: “I must inform [a la FEC] Who, but can give them through a company, we will not reveal who is behind the donation in that way. He added: “Third parties may be used to withhold real donor”.

This “Individual-2” was explained to a third participant described as a lawyer and consultant in the federal complaint, who explained that he could support Pierre Lucy by funding the Foundation for Advancement and the Equality Foundation. .

The election controller, Walter Vélez, told the newspaper that his office had no jurisdiction over non-profit organizations or corporations controlled by the state. Other jurisdictions outside of Puerto Rico do not include the jurisdiction of registered election committees.

“The cases of Super PACs and Citizen United have greatly disrupted political campaigns because it is unregulated and has no limits. They are multi-million dollar companies that contribute to political candidates without any restrictions.

During the 2020 election campaign, Vasquez’s campaign manager, George Davila, filed a complaint with the state election commission alleging illegal coordination with Pierre Lucie’s campaign.

The indictment alleges that the individual-1 was an ally of Governor Pierre Lucy, calling him “General Officer-1” and a major fundraiser seeking donations in support of the 2020 election campaign.

“Sources, Personal-1 and Personal-2 contacted each other through text messages, email and web-based messaging applications to discuss aspects of their program, in order to avoid reporting the actual source of these donations.”

Journalist Wilma Maldonado Arikoidia contributed to this story.