Two former associates of Rep. Henry Cuellar agree to plea deal related to bribery case
By Hannah Rabinowitz, CNN
(CNN) — Rep. Henry Cuellar’s former campaign manager and another political operative have agreed to plead guilty to federal crimes and are cooperating with the Justice Department’s prosecution of the Texas Democrat, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.
Mina Colin Strother, Cuellar’s former campaign manager and former chief of staff, and Florencio “Lencho” Rendon, a political consultant and businessman from San Antonio, agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in March.
Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, were indicted last week on suspicion of accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities – a bank headquartered in Mexico City and an oil and gas company owned by the government of Azerbaijan.
Both the congressman and his wife have pleaded not guilty. Cuellar has publicly asserted his innocence, saying in a statement last week that “both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations. Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas.”
According to court documents, Rendon and Cuellar concocted the bribery scheme in 2015 after learning that the Mexican bank needed help doing business within the United States. Rendon signed on to a phony “consulting agreement” with the bank for $15,000 per month, prosecutors say.
Most of the money was eventually sent to the Cuellars, prosecutors allege, but Rendon didn’t think it was a good idea to send money directly to Imelda.
Cuellar then suggested recruiting Strother as a middleman, prosecutors say. The alleged plot evolved into an arrangement where Rendon would send $11,000 per month to Strother, who in turn would send $10,000 to a company owned by Imelda Cuellar, according to court documents.
From March 2016 to February 2018, Strother transferred nearly $215,000 to Cuellar’s wife, according to court filings.
The Cuellars are not named in Strother’s and Rendon’s plea deal agreements, but both of their case numbers are listed as related cases to Cuellar’s in court records. Specific details laid out in the plea agreements also exactly match details in the indictment against Cuellar.
Cuellar’s attorney, Chris Flood, told CNN in a statement, “As long as Strother and Rendon tell the truth, we are not worried. As we all know, the government can convince people to tell them what they want to hear rather than the truth. I don’t know what they are saying, but as long as they stick to the truth, we are not worried.”
CNN has reached out to attorneys for Rendon and Strother for comment.
This story has been updated with additional reaction.
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