Legal News

Puerto Rico?s Governor Indicted for Campaign Finance Violations

By Dan Slater

The Law Blog is crazy about mofongo, tostones and ensalada de pulpo, but we can’t say we know much about Puerto Rican politics — aside from the evergreen debate over whether the island should remain a commonwealth or seek independence.

This morning, we got a bit of a tutorial, however, reading about the indictment of Puerto Rico’s governor, Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, who was charged yesterday with campaign finance violations. Among the 19 criminal counts he faces are tax fraud and using campaign money to pay for family vacations in Miami; Orlando; and China; to pay for $57,000 worth of “high end” clothing; and to pay personal credit card bills. Here are stories from the NYT and WSJ. (For those LB’ers who prefer some local flair in their news, here’s the Spanish-language report from El Nuevo Dia.)

In the alleged scheme, Acevedo (U. of Puerto Rico law, LLM from Harvard), with the help of 12 associates, who were also indicted, solicited and then reimbursed illegal campaign contributions from members of Acevedo’s family and staff and from the family members and staff of a group of businessmen in and around Philadelphia. To circumvent contribution limits, the governor and his associates disguised the sources of the contributions by listing them under other people’s names.

In a televised statement, which you can watch by clicking to the El Nuevo Dia article, Acevedo, 48, said the indictment was “politically motivated” and “totally false.” Acevedo, a superdelegate to the Democratic National Convention and a supporter of Barack Obama, says he’ll surrender to the authorities on Friday. He faces up to 20 years if convicted on all counts, the authorities said.

Law Blog Food Recommendation of the Day: For those New York-based culinarians among the LB readership, you absolutely must try La Taza de Oro, a Puerto Rican diner on 8th Avenue in Manhattan, between 14th and 15th streets. Beforehand, grab a bottle of wine from the store around the corner and then chat up Taza’s congenial staff as you linger over a plate of bistec encebollado. ¡Buen apetito!

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 28, 2008 (boomark / email).