Conservative Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), who represents a competitive district on the Mexican border, and his wife were charged Friday with taking nearly $600,000 in foreign bribes in a long-running FBI probe examining the congressman’s work with Azerbaijan. From 2014 to 2021, Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, accepted bribes from an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a Mexican bank, in exchange for boosting their interests on Capitol Hill, prosecutors said. Cuellar, former chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, allegedly promised to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan in its border conflict with Armenia and agreed to pressure the Biden administration against anti-money-laundering efforts that threatened the bank based in Mexico City,, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Cuellar said he and his wife were innocent and that he had consulted with congressional ethics officials before taking any actions. “The actions I took in Congress were consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people,” he said. Cuellar would take leave as ranking member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee. Cuellar, 68 years old, has served in Congress since 2005. Cuellar began developing ties to Azerbaijan after a Turkish businessman brought the couple on a trip there in 2013 Azerbaijani officials then discussed ways to recruit the congressman to advance their interests in the U.S. In May 2014, he emailed an Azerbaijani diplomat to report that he had placed language in that year’s National Defense Authorization Act concerning security assistance for European and Eurasian regions, which included Azerbaijan.