Feds say Smartmatic bribed Venezuela's top election official with luxury home
The alleged bribe, according to prosecutors, was intended to help Smartmatic secure Lucena's help in a commercial dispute with the Venezuela government, following the company's August 2017 accusation that the Nicolás Maduro regime committed fraud in the National Constituent Assembly election—a claim that led Smartmatic to cease operations in the country.
The bribe allegation, detailed in new court filing, is expected to be used by Miami federal prosecutors as evidence against Piñate, who is charged with multiple counts of money laundering and bribery related to contracts in the Philippines.
The U.S. government plans to present photographs, witness testimony, and encrypted text messages to demonstrate that Piñate, 49, orchestrated the transfer of an upper-middle-class home with a pool to Lucena Ramírez between April and July 2019.
Prosecutors claim the house was offered as a bribe to secure favorable treatment from Lucena, who, as president of Venezuela's National Electoral Council wielded broad authority over the country's controversial voting system and its private vendors.
Reacting to the allegations, Smartmatic said the government's filing is 'filled with misrepresentations.'
'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 Herald in an email. 'We have always operated lawfully, ethically, and transparently. We stand by our two-decade track record of integrity.'
According to the filing, the residence at the center of the alleged scheme was controlled by Piñate through a foreign shell company. Prosecutors say he worked with others — including 'Individual 1,' an unnamed co-conspirator mentioned in a broader indictment — to obscure the property's origin and prevent the transaction from being traced back to him or to Smartmatic.
Text messages among the group, according to prosecutors, show that they plotted to transfer the home's title through a third party to conceal the transaction's true purpose: a bribe. Ultimately, Lucena assumed control of the property, which prosecutors say was compensation for her support in resolving a commercial dispute between Smartmatic and the Venezuelan government.
The filings cite Rule 404(b) of the Federal Rules of Evidence, which permits the introduction of evidence of other crimes, wrongs, or acts not charged in the indictment if they help prove motive, intent, or a pattern of behavior. The Justice Department argues that the alleged Caracas bribe sheds light on Piñate's methods — and supports the broader claim that he systematically used illicit payments to secure or maintain contracts with election officials in various countries.
The alleged bribe to Lucena occurred during a stormy period in Smartmatic's dealings with Venezuela. In 2017, a public rift erupted between the company and the electoral council over the results of the Constituent Assembly elections. Smartmatic accused the Maduro regime of manipulating turnout figures, inflating them by at least one million votes, and announced it would cease operations in the country.
From 2004 to 2017, Smartmatic had been one of the Venezuelan government's most significant technology partners, supplying voting machines, election software and logistical support under contracts worth tens of millions of dollars. Piñate, as Chief Operating Officer and later President, played a key role in managing the company's relationship with the electoral council leadership.
Following the 2017 fallout, Smartmatic stopped receiving payments under its contracts with Venezuela. Prosecutors allege that Piñate sought to repair the relationship and believed Lucena — then still council president — was essential to achieving that goal.
Lucena, who died in April 2023, led the electoral council from roughly 2006 through mid-2020 and remained a central figure in Venezuela's electoral infrastructure during the presidencies of Hugo Chávez and much of Nicolás Maduro's tenure. While praised by the regime as a technocrat, she was widely criticized by opposition leaders and international observers for overseeing an electoral system plagued by irregularities and manipulation.
The revelations about Lucena come as Piñate faces criminal charges related to a $1 million bribery scheme in the Philippines. In August 2024, a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Florida indicted Piñate and Jorge Miguel Vásquez, 62, of Davie, Florida, for conspiring to bribe Juan Andrés Donato Bautista, the former chairman of the Philippine Commission on Elections.
Prosecutors allege that Piñate and his co-defendant inflated the prices of voting machines sold to the Philippines and diverted the excess funds into secret accounts used to pay off Bautista. These illicit transactions were disguised through fake contracts, loan agreements, and coded language. the government says. The funds were laundered through accounts in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including financial institutions in South Florida.
Piñate and Bautista are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and three counts of international money laundering. If convicted, each faces up to 20 years in federal prison for each count.
The cases have brought renewed scrutiny to Smartmatic, a company long at the center of debates over electronic voting systems, especially in Latin America. Though it has consistently defended the integrity of its technology and denied involvement in government manipulation, the firm now finds itself implicated in allegations that its senior leadership engaged in bribery as a routine business practice.
Smartmatic was founded in 2000 by Piñate, Antonio Mugica, and Alfredo José Anzola, with the goal of providing secure digital voting systems. The company gained international prominence after the Chávez government awarded it contracts to modernize Venezuela's election infrastructure in 2004.
The company's systems were used in numerous elections during the Chávez and Maduro eras, playing a central role in digitizing the country's voting process.
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