Federal prosecutors in South Florida brought serious charges Monday against Roger Piñate, a Venezuelan-American tech executive and co-founder of the voting technology company Smartmatic.
The allegations say Piñate secretly orchestrated a bribe by transferring control of a luxury residence in Caracas to Tibisay Lucena Ramírez, the longtime head of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), in exchange for her support in a business dispute with the Venezuelan government, the Miami Herald reported. Piñate, 49, allegedly made the bribe in 2019 to influence Ramírez in resolving a commercial dispute between Smartmatic and the Maduro regime, according to federal prosecutors.
The company accused the government of electoral fraud in the 2017 National Constituent Assembly elections, and this led to Smartmatic halting its operations in Venezuela. In the court filings, prosecutors presented evidence — including witness testimony, encrypted text messages, and photographs — to show that Piñate facilitated the transaction of a home, valued in the upper-middle-class range, through a foreign shell company to obscure the deal’s illicit nature.
Picture of the logo of Smartmatic, the firm that supplies Venezuela’s voting technology, seen on a sliding door at the headquarters of the company in Caracas, on August 2, 2017. (Photo by RONALDO SCHEMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)
Smartmatic, however, denies the accusations, saying that the government’s filing misrepresents the facts. The company insists it ceased all operations in Venezuela in August 2017 after accusing the government of election fraud and has not sought business there since.
In a statement, Smartmatic said it adheres to lawful and ethical standards and dismissed the allegations as unsubstantiated. (RELATED: Voting Machine Company Sues OANN And Newsmax Over 2020 Election Coverage)
“As an example, the government’s citation of an alleged bribe in Venezuela in 2019 is untethered from reality. Smartmatic ceased all operations in Venezuela in August 2017 after blowing the whistle on the government and has never sought to secure business there again,” the company told the Miami Herald in an email. “We have always operated lawfully, ethically, and transparently. We stand by our two-decade track record of integrity.”
The residence at the center of the dispute was allegedly transferred to Ramírez, who had significant influence over Venezuela’s electoral process during her leadership of the CNE from 2006 to 2020. As president of the CNE, Ramírez oversaw the country’s controversial voting system and managed the relationships with companies like Smartmatic, which provided election technology.
Prosecutors say that Piñate believed securing Ramírez’s favor was crucial for resolving the company’s ongoing dispute with the Venezuelan government. This bribery charge is part of a broader investigation into Piñate’s alleged illegal business practices.
The U.S. government has also indicted Piñate for a separate bribery scheme involving election contracts in the Philippines. In 2024, Piñate and his co-defendant, Jorge Miguel Vásquez, were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and bribery related to inflated voting machine contracts in the Philippines.
Smartmatic did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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