Former aide and consultant close to U.S. Rep. Cuellar plead guilty and agree to aid investigation

AUSTIN, Texas -- A apical erstwhile adjutant to U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and a governmental and concern advisor person agreed to plead blameworthy to conspiring to assistance the Democrat congressman from Texas launder much than $200,000 successful bribes and to assistance prosecutors successful a national transgression investigation, according to tribunal documents unsealed this week.

Colin Strother, Cuellar's erstwhile main of unit and run manager, and Florencia Rendon, a concern advisor and erstwhile main of unit for erstwhile U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, struck plea deals successful March to guarantee their practice successful a U.S. Department of Justice probe into Cuellar and his wife.

The Cuellars person been charged with accepting astir $600,000 successful bribes from an Azerbaijan-controlled vigor institution and a slope successful Mexico, successful speech for advancing the interests of the state and the slope successful the U.S.

Cuellar, 68, has said helium and his woman Imelda Cuellar, 67, are innocent.

In summation to bribery and conspiracy, the mates look charges including ligament fraud conspiracy, acting arsenic agents of overseas principals and wealth laundering. If convicted, they look up to decades successful situation and forfeiture of immoderate spot linked to proceeds from the alleged scheme.

The plea agreements by Strother, 50, and Rendon, 73, are related to laundering wealth from Mexico. The agreements were ordered unsealed connected Wednesday. Both men agreed to plead blameworthy to conspiracy to perpetrate wealth laundering. Strother faces up to 5 years successful prison, and Rendon faces up to 20 years.

Investigators said Rendon and Cuellar were astatine a league successful Mexico City successful 2015 erstwhile they hatched a program to put meetings with executives of Mexican banks needing assistance with transfers of wealth from Mexican workers and to draught fake contracts for consulting services to beryllium provided by Imelda Cuellar. According to the indictment against the Cuellars, she “performed small oregon nary morganatic work” successful speech for payment.

Rendon knew the declaration was a “sham consulting contract” and that the payments of $15,000 per period were made to funnel wealth to Cuellar, the plea statement said.

Rendon would nonstop $11,000 a period to Strother, who would successful crook transportation monthly payments to the Cuellars of $10,000. From March 2016 to February 2018, Strother transferred astir $215,000 to the Cuellars, according to the plea agreement.

At 1 constituent successful 2018, Cuellar confronted Strother successful a edifice parking batch astir missed payments to his wife, and Strother produced a spreadsheet connected his telephone to guarantee him the payments were up to date, the plea woody said.

“As agelong arsenic Strother and Rendon archer the truth, we are not worried,” Cuellar lawyer Chris Flood said. “At the close clip the Judge successful this lawsuit volition pass everyone astir the credibility of Strother and Rendon if they don’t.”

Attorneys for Strother and Rendon did not instantly instrumentality email and telephone messages seeking comment.

Cuellar and his woman surrendered to authorities past week and were concisely taken into custody. They made an archetypal quality earlier a national justice successful Houston and were each released connected $100,000 bond.

The FBI searched the congressman’s location successful the borderline metropolis of Laredo successful 2022, and Cuellar’s lawyer astatine that clip said Cuellar was not the people of that investigation.

“Everything I person done successful Congress has been to service the radical of South Texas,” Cuellar said past week. “Before I took action, I proactively sought ineligible proposal from the House Ethics Committee, who gave maine much than 1 written opinion, on with an further sentiment from a nationalist instrumentality firm."

Cuellar, 1 of the past anti-abortion Democrats successful Congress, narrowly defeated progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros by less than 300 votes successful a superior contention successful 2022.