Latest news with #Borges'
Winnipeg Free Press
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Court upholds racketeering convictions of ex-Ohio House speaker and lobbyist in $60M bribery scheme
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A federal appeals court upheld the racketeering convictions of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and an ex-lobbyist on Tuesday in a $60 million bribery scheme that a prosecutor had described as likely the largest corruption scheme in state history. The unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati represented a win for the Department of Justice, which had secured the convictions in March 2023 after a yearslong investigation. Householder, a Republican, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, and lobbyist and former Ohio Republican Party chair Matt Borges was sentenced to five years in prison. Householder was convicted of masterminding a $60 million bribery scheme funded by Akron-based FirstEnergy Corp. to elect allies, secure power, pass a $1 billion bailout of two of its affiliated nuclear plants and then defend the bill, known as House Bill 6, from a repeal effort. Prosecutors had described Borges' primary role in the scheme as working to thwart a ballot campaign aimed at repealing the tainted legislation. Specifically, he was accused of paying $15,000 to someone who was helping spearhead the effort in order to get inside information. The referendum ultimately failed to make the ballot. Both men have a couple long shot legal options remaining: They could ask for a review by the full Sixth Circuit, or seek what's known as certiorari in the U.S. Supreme Court, hoping for consideration by the nation's highest bench. Both types of requests are rarely granted. Messages seeking comment were left for their attorneys, as well as with a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Cincinnati. Householder's appeal failed on all six claims he brought in hopes of a reprieve. He alleged erroneous jury instructions, insufficient and inadmissible evidence, violations of his right to counsel, judicial bias and that his sentence was unreasonable for the circumstances. The 65-year-old Householder argued that the government was wrong in describing what he had engaged in as a bribery scheme. Instead, he cast the money that flowed from FirstEnergy into a network of secret dark money accounts that he controlled as legal campaign contributions. Federal prosecutors charged that the money was given to Householder in exchange for the passage of House Bill 6, providing the necessary quid pro quo to make his conduct illegal. Householder had also faulted U.S. District Judge Timothy Black in his appeal, asserting that he failed to properly instruct the jury that an agreement is necessary to prove bribery and that Householder needed to have agreed he would take action 'on a specific and focused question or matter' at the time that agreement was struck. The judicial panel said all of his claims failed. Borges' appeal hinged on three technical points of law. All failed. However, Circuit Judge Amul Thapar wrote in a concurring opinion that each of Borges' contentions 'raises tricky and unresolved issues in honest services fraud jurisprudence.' 'And here, Borges has a good argument his conduct fell within a murky middle: perhaps objectionable, but not clearly illegal,' he wrote. 'Until the Supreme Court revises its caselaw, however, we must follow its precedent.'
Yahoo
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Cuba releases intelligence officer accused of spying 27 years after sentence
April 25 (UPI) -- Ernesto Borges Perez, a former Cuban counterintelligence officer, is out of prison after serving 27 years in Havana. The 59-year-old Borges, who was convicted of spying for the United States, was released Thursday from the high-security Combinado del Este prison. Borges, trained by the Soviet Union's KGB, was arrested in July 1998 for attempting to pass the identities of 26 Cuban intelligence members about to infiltrate the United States and Europe. Although he didn't carry out the mission, he was initially sentenced to death. It was later commuted to 30 years in prison. Borges had been eligible for parole years ago but was denied. He staffed hunger strikes and developed several health ailments, including untreated cataracts in his eyes. For more than 20 years, Borges said he was held in inhumane conditions in dark, unventilated cells, without adequate access to medical care and without physical contact with his daughter. "I wish they would listen to the people of Cuba," Borges said in a call with Marti Noticias, a U.S.-government-funded news outlet. "I wish God would touch their hearts, and I wish to have a transition process that would be as painless as possible." Borges' release was celebrated by his family, Cuban opponents and members of the exile community, including more than 1.2 million in the Miami area. Cuban activist Carolina Barrero said it was "a triumph of resistance against oppression." She ended her message on X in Spanish: "To Ernesto Borges and his family, I extend my respect and my embrace. May their freedom be a prelude to a #FreeCuba." Barrero said Borges' situation is a reminder "to act with truth and courage in the face of the tyranny that uses and despises them, just like the rest of the Cubans, for the benefit of the Castro family." Fidel Castro ruled in Cuba from 1955 to 2008, and died on Nov. 25, 2016. His brother, Raul, succeeded him as president and left power in 2018.
Miami Herald
25-04-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Cuba releases former intelligence officer accused of spying for the U.S. after 27 years
Ernesto Borges Pérez, a former Cuban counterintelligence officer who served 27 years in prison after he was convicted of spying for the U.S., was released Thursday from the high-security Combinado del Este prison in Havana. Trained by the KGB, Borges was a 32-year-old counterintelligence captain and first officer in the Interior Ministry when he was arrested in July 1998 for attempting to pass the identities of 26 Cuban intelligence agents about to infiltrate the United States and Europe to a U.S. diplomat in Havana, his father, Raúl Borges, told el Nuevo Herald in 2012. He was charged with attempted espionage and sentenced to 30 years in a one-day trial in January 1999. Reports described him as the first Cuban government official ever convicted of spying for the United States. Borges had been eligible for parole years ago but had been denied the benefit despite staging hunger strikes and developing several health ailments, including untreated cataracts that affected his vision. After one hunger strike, the late Cuban cardinal Jaime Ortega visited him at the prison in 2012, raising hopes the Catholic Church could help bring about his release. He was also reportedly floated as one of the U.S. assets that could have been exchanged for five spies of Cuba's 'Wasp' network in South Florida, which was swept up by the FBI in 1998, the same year of Borges' arrest. The Obama administration ultimately secured the release of another Cuban imprisoned for spying for the U.S, Rolando Sarraf, in a prisoner exchange in 2014. Activists have lately raised suspicion that Manuel Rocha, a former U.S. diplomat who was stationed at the U.S. embassy in Havana at the time of Borges' arrest, might have played a role in his detention. Rocha was sentenced in the U.S to 15 years in prison last year for acting as a foreign agent of Cuba. An official review of the damage caused by Rocha's activities on behalf of Cuba has not been made public. In a call with Martí Noticias, a U.S.-government-funded news outlet, Borges expressed gratitude for those advocating for the release of political prisoners on the island. 'I wish they would listen to the people of Cuba. I wish they would understand that it is necessary to engage in dialogue with those who think differently, both inside and outside of Cuba,' he said. 'I wish God would touch their hearts, and I wish to have a transition process that would be as painless as possible.'
