Federal Jury Convicts Puerto Rico Legislator and Husband for Bribery and Theft
A federal jury has convicted Puerto Rico legislator María Milagros Charbonier-Laureano, also known as Tata, and her husband, Orlando Montes-Rivera, for their involvement in a theft, bribery, and kickback conspiracy scheme. The scheme aimed to fraudulently inflate the salary of legislative assistant Frances Acevedo-Ceballos in exchange for a portion of the inflated salary.
Court documents and trial evidence revealed that from early 2017 to July 2020, Charbonier-Laureano, Montes-Rivera, and Acevedo-Ceballos executed the scheme to defraud the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. During this period, Charbonier-Laureano inflated Acevedo-Ceballos's salary from $800 bi-weekly to nearly $2,900. It was agreed that Acevedo-Ceballos would retain a portion of the inflated salary and kick back between $1,000 and $1,500 to Charbonier-Laureano and Montes-Rivera.
Upon learning of the investigation, Charbonier-Laureano deleted significant data from her phone, including the call log, WhatsApp messages, and iMessages associated with the phone. The jury convicted both Charbonier-Laureano and Montes-Rivera on various charges, including conspiracy, theft, bribery, kickbacks, honest services wire fraud, money laundering, and obstruction of justice for Charbonier-Laureano's actions in destroying data on her phone.
Scheduled for sentencing on April 10, Charbonier-Laureano and Montes-Rivera face maximum penalties ranging from five to 20 years in prison, depending on the charges. Acevedo-Ceballos, who pleaded guilty to federal funds bribery, is set to be sentenced on Feb. 5, 2024.
The announcement was made by Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico, and Special Agent in Charge Joseph Gonzalez of the FBI San Juan Field Office. The FBI conducted the investigation.
