Feds Allege Smartmatic Tech Bribed Venezuela Voting Official

Federal prosecutors in South Florida allege that Roger Piñate, co-founder of the voting technology company Smartmatic, bribed Tibisay Lucena Ramírez, Venezuela’s former top election official, by transferring control of a luxury residence in Caracas to her. 

Ramírez

The alleged bribe was intended to secure Lucena’s assistance in resolving a commercial dispute with the Venezuelan government after Smartmatic accused the Nicolás Maduro regime of election fraud in 2017, leading to the company’s exit from Venezuela. 

This accusation is part of a broader case against Piñate, who faces charges of money laundering and bribery related to contracts in the Philippines. 

The evidence of the Caracas bribe will be used in Piñate’s upcoming corruption trial to demonstrate a pattern of illicit payments to secure election-related contracts. Lucena, who led Venezuela’s electoral council from 2006 to 2020 and died in 2023, was a key figure in the country’s electoral system, often criticized for overseeing flawed elections.