US prosecutors charge Smartmatic in alleged $1M Philippine bribery case

Federal prosecutors have charged voting technology firm Smartmatic with money laundering and other crimes arising from more than $1 million in bribes that several executives allegedly paid to election officials in the Philippines.

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The payments, between 2015 and 2018, were made to obtain a contract with the Philippines government to help run that country's 2016 presidential election and secure the timely payment for its work, according to a superseding indictment filed Thursday in a Florida federal court.

Three former executives of Smartmatic, including co-founder Roger Pinate, were previously charged in 2024 but at the time South Florida-based Smartmatic was not named as a defendant. Pinate, who no longer works for Smartmatic but remains a shareholder, has pleaded not guilty.

The criminal case is unfolding as Smartmatic is pursuing a $2.7 billion lawsuit accusing Fox News of defamation for airing false claims that the company helped rig the 2020 U.S. presidential election in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump.