Joseph Fuentes-Fernandez, Falsifying FEC Reports, Virginia 2024

Virginia Resident Pleads Guilty to Falsifying FEC Reports

Arlington, Virginia – In a shocking turn of events, Joseph Fuentes-Fernandez, a 62-year-old resident of Arlington, Virginia, has pleaded guilty to scheming to falsify and conceal material facts, specifically about the true identities of donors to a Super PAC.

According to court documents, Fuentes-Fernandez, the president and treasurer of Salvemos a Puerto Rico, a Super PAC, admitted to soliciting hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to two shell nonprofit social welfare organizations. These funds were then rapidly sent to Salvemos a Puerto Rico, where they were reported as coming from the 501(c)(4) entities, rather than from the true donors.

This scheme, which was designed to conceal the true identities of the donors, deprived the people of Puerto Rico and the Federal Election Commission (FEC) of information about the true source of hundreds of thousands of dollars flowing into the Commonwealth’s political system.

Fuentes-Fernandez’s scheme was uncovered through an investigation by the FBI’s San Juan Field Office, which is continuing to investigate the case.

As part of his plea, Salvemos a Puerto Rico has agreed to pay a fine of $150,000 and file amended Reports and Receipts and Disbursements with the FEC containing the true identity of all donors to Salvemos a Puerto Rico from 2020 to the present.

Fuentes-Fernandez is scheduled to be sentenced on August 15 and faces a maximum of five years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

MORE FEDERAL CRIME NEWS

Public Corruption

Curtis W. Keyser, Theft of Mail by Postal Employee, Pennsylvania 2024

Aug 26, 2016

Public Corruption

Ladd La Follette, North Dakota Senator, Dead at 55, Yuma AZ, 1925

Jun 22, 1925

Public Corruption

Helen Tantillo, Lying to FBI Agents, Texas 2016

Apr 22, 2016

Public Corruption

Justice Sued Over ADA Proposal Hearings

Nov 3, 2010