Men Linked to Congressman Admit to Conspiring With Him to Launder Money

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) gives an interview in Laredo, Texas, on Oct. 9, 2019. Veronica Cardenas/Reuters

Two people tied to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) have pleaded guilty to conspiring with him to launder money, according to newly unsealed court documents.

Colin Strother, Mr. Cueller’s former campaign manager, and consultant Florencio Rendon admitted to conspiring with an elected official, with details in their guilty pleas matching information laid out in the indictment against Mr. Cueller.

Mr. Strother and Mr. Rendon each face up to 20 years in prison, although their sentences are likely to be much less since they’ve agreed to cooperate.

According to the unsealed documents, Mr. Cuellar helped connect Mr. Rendon with an executive at a Mexican bank who conveyed that the bank was having difficulty finding a U.S. institution to partner with to facilitate payments from Mexican workers in the United States to their family members back home.

Mr. Rendon reached an agreement that would pay a company owned by Mr. Cuellar and Mr. Cuellar’s wife, Imelda Cuellar, $12,000 a month in exchange for consulting, according to a draft contract described in one of the plea deals.

In a meeting with Mr. Cuellar, the congressman suggested Mr. Rendon add Mrs. Cuellar to the contract under the guise of hiring her, but Mr. Rendon said that was not a good idea. Mr. Cuellar then suggested paying Mr. Rendon, who would then funnel money to Mrs. Cuellar, according to the unsealed documents.

The outlined scheme would feature Mr. Rendon paying $11,000 a month and keeping $1,000 a month. Mr. Strother would also keep $1,000 a month, sending the rest to Mrs. Cuellar.

Mr. Rendon complained and said he wanted more money, prompting Mr. Cuellar to suggest reaching back out to the Mexican businessman, according to Mr. Rendon’s plea agreement.

Mr. Rendon allegedly asked the executive for more money and the executive said the monthly payment could be $15,000.

The parties executed the scheme for several years, according to court documents. Mr. Rendon received $540,000 in total, and sent $261,000 to Mr. Strother, according to Mr. Rendon’s agreement. Mr. Strother received $242,000, and sent $214,890 of that to Mrs. Cuellar, according to Mr. Strother’s agreement.

No services were provided in exchange for the money, Mr. Rendon and Mr. Strother acknowledged.

Mr. Rendon understood the contract was “a sham consulting contract,” his agreement stated. He understood that the scheme “was a means for [the Mexican bank] to funnel money to” Mr. Cuellar.

According to court documents, Mr. Strother, who was involved in the scheme after receiving a proposal to help test and certify a fuel additive made by a Mexican company for sale in the United States, initially believed the scheme was legitimate and worked to advance the company’s interests.

However, after seeing neither Mr. Rendon nor Mrs. Cuellar perform any work in exchange for the payments, Mr. Strother stopped his efforts, according to his agreement. He came to understand that the purpose of the payments he received and sent to Mrs. Cuellar “was to funnel money to [Mr. Cuellar] without [Mr. Cuellar] having to disclose it in his publicly filed annual financial disclosures.”

Mr. Cuellar also allegedly asked Mr. Rendon to hire his “adult child” and a verbal agreement was reached that would see Mr. Rendon pay the child $2,000 a month. Mr. Rendon said the purpose of the agreement was to pay the rest of what Mr. Rendon owed Mr. Cuellar.

Mr. Rendon made one payment, handing a check to Mr. Cuellar’s adult child at a restaurant, but did not make any additional payments because he was soon served with a federal grand jury subpoena for information on the payments, his agreement states.

Mr. Cuellar and his wife have two adult children, both of whom are female. Neither have been charged as of yet.

Lawyers for Mr. Rendon and Mr. Strother did not respond to requests for comment.

The agreements say the men will “fully cooperate” with prosecutors.

Mr. Cuellar and his wife maintain that they are innocent and say that Mr. Rendon and Mr. Strother, if honest in their testimony, will not harm them.

“So long as they ultimately tell the truth under oath and stand up to pressure from the government to polish their testimony to please the government, then we’re not worried at all,” Eric Reed, one of Mr. Cuellar’s attorneys, told The Epoch Times.

“The congressman and his wife are not guilty, so we welcome the testimony of any truthteller,” he added.

Mr. Cuellar previously told The Epoch Times that before every action he took in Congress, he sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee and legal counsel.

“The actions I took in Congress were consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people,” he said.

Mr. Cuellar faces multiple charges, including conspiracy to bribe a federal official; bribing a federal official; and conspiracy to conceal money laundering.

Mr. Cuellar, 68, has been in office since 2005. He represents a southern Texas congressional district that includes portions of San Antonio.