Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar and wife indicted over allegations of $600,000 bribes from Azerbaijan

Texas Democratic Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife have been indicted by federal prosecutors on charges of conspiracy and bribery, after allegedly taking nearly $600,000 from a Azerbaijani-controlled company and a Mexican bank.

The charges were announced on Friday by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), shortly after Mr Cuellar protested his innocence.

It is alleged that from 2014 to 2021, Mr Cuellar and his wife Imelda accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico, and in exchange, the congressman agreed to advance the interests of the country and the bank in the US, according to an indictment.

The money was also allegedly laundered through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Ms Cuellar.

Among other things, Mr Cuellar allegedly agreed to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the floor of the US House.

The announcement comes after the congressman released a statement earlier on Friday in which he claimed that “everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas.”

“I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations,” Mr Cuellar said. “Before I took action, I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm.

“Furthermore, we requested a meeting with the Washington DC prosecutors to explain the facts and they refused to discuss the case with us or hear our side.”

He added that the actions he took in Congress were “consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people.”