Maker of voting machines had 'slush fund,' feds allege

An election technology firm allegedly overbilled Los Angeles County for voting machines used during the 2020 election and funneled the extra cash into a "slush fund" for bribing government officials, federal prosecutors say in a criminal case against three company executives.

- BY REBECCA ELLIS AND RICHARD WINTON

AL SEIB Los Angeles Times A VOTING area in 2020. Smartmatic had a $282-million contract to provide machines for that year's election.

Smartmatic, a U.K.-based voting system company, had bribery embedded as part of its business model, prosecutors allege in a Florida federal corruption case against company co-founder Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez and two other company officials.

Prosecutors do not indicate who benefited from the alleged pot of Los Angeles County taxpayer money.

Dean Logan, the county's top voting official, has acknowledged regularly meeting with Piñate, a Boca Raton resident who was charged last year with bribery and money laundering in the Philippines.

That's where executives are charged with inflating the price of voting machines and using the surplus money to bribe a top election official who could help them land contracts worth $182 million for the 2016 election.

To secure political favors in Venezuela, Smartmatic employees are accused of fashioning a similar fund to buy a longtime elections official a home with a pool in 2019 as they tried to get a more solid footing in the country, according to an Aug. 1 motion in the Philippine corruption case.

And in L.A. County, where the company won a $282-million contract for the 2020 election, Smartmatic executives used county money to create the same type of slush fund, according to the Aug. 1 filing. The filing raises questions about what happened to taxpayer money when officials awarded what is widely considered the biggest election technology contract in US. history.

Prosecutors say they plan to introduce “financial and business records, witness testimony, as well as text and email communications” as proof to bolster their case on Smartmatic corruption as it heads toward trial.

Federal prosecutors declined to comment on the ongoing criminal case.