Wanda Vázquez, who served as Puerto Rico’s governor from August 2019 to 2021, has been arrested in a bribery scheme spanning seven months during her time in office, federal officials said Thursday. Vázquez allegedly accepted a bribe in exchange for replacing Puerto Rico’s financial commissioner, who was investigating a bank owner for unreported transactions, with someone of the bank owner’s choosing, according to the Justice Department. The bank owner and others paid her political consultants more than $300,000 to help finance her 2020 campaign, the Justice Department said. When Vázquez lost to current Gov. Pedro Pierluisi, the bank owner then attempted to bribe the new governor with a similar deal in order to end an audit of his bank, but Pierluisi didn’t go for the offer. Vázquez’s charges, which signify the first time a former Puerto Rican leader has been federally charged, include counts for conspiracy, federal programs bribery and honest services wire fraud. She faces a prison sentence of up to 20 years if convicted.
Read it at Associated Press
