Federal investigators have secured a third guilty plea in a probe involving U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, who is accused of accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from SOCAR, an Azerbaijan-controlled company, and a bank in Mexico, reports the Associated Press.
Irada Akhoundova, a 67-year-old Azerbaijani resident of Houston and president of the Houston-Baku Sister City Association, pleaded guilty on May 1 in Houston federal court to acting as an unregistered agent for Azerbaijan. Her plea, which was entered during a closed hearing on the same day that the Cuellars were indicted, also included a charge for coordinating a $60,000 payment to Imelda Cuellar. The details of her guilty plea were unsealed on May 9.
Akhoundova, who worked for a SOCAR affiliate from 2014-2017 as director of a Texas affiliate of an Azerbaijani energy company, transmitted false consulting invoices and helped facilitate payments she thought were in the interests of the oil company and the Azerbaijan government. Court records highlight that her plea agreement requires full cooperation with the United States, similar to the other plea agreements in this investigation.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) accuses the Cuellars of laundering the bribe money from December 2014 through November 2021, using sham consulting contracts and a series of front companies. These funds were purportedly for the congressman to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan. Federal authorities allege that the Cuellars accepted the bribes in exchange for advancing the interests of Azerbaijan and the Mexican bank, Banco Azteca, in the U.S.
Colin Strother, Cuellar’s former campaign manager, and Florencio “Lencho” Rendon, a consultant, previously admitted to helping launder over $200,000 in bribes from Banco Azteca. They were the first two to plead guilty in this investigation.
The indictment outlines Azerbaijan’s efforts to garner support for its positions in its conflict with Armenia over Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), manage the immigration status of Azerbaijani citizens, and enhance its image as a strategic U.S. ally. Cuellar, once co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, agreed to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan, including delivering a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the U.S. House floor.
Akhoundova faces up to five years in prison. As the president of the Houston-Baku Sister City Association, she advocated for establishing relationships between Azerbaijan and the United States, including with diplomats, lawmakers, and other government officials from both countries.
The Azerbaijan energy company initially made the payments through a Texas-based shell company owned by Imelda Cuellar and two of the couple’s children. That company received payments of $25,000 per month under a “sham contract,” purportedly in exchange for unspecified strategic consulting and advising services. The DOJ alleged that the Cuellars laundered payments, “pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar, who performed little to no legitimate work under the contracts.”
Referred to as “el Jefe” (“the boss”) in text messages by an Azerbaijani diplomat, Cuellar faces multiple charges including bribery, conspiracy, wire fraud conspiracy, acting as agents of foreign principals, and money laundering. If convicted, the Cuellars could face over 200 years each in federal prison.
Cuellar’s ties to Azerbaijan include a $20,000 trip to Turkey and Azerbaijan in 2013 paid for by the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), which is not listed by name in the indictment. He also coordinated a collaboration between Texas A&M International University and the Assembly of Friends of Azerbaijan in 2015, focusing on oil and gas studies and facilitating student trips to the Baku Summer Energy School.
Cuellar also regularly met with Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to the U.S. He is also a member of the House Appropriations Committee. Despite the charges, Cuellar has confirmed he is still running to represent the 28th Congressional District, spanning from south San Antonio, Laredo, and the Rio Grande Valley. His Laredo home and campaign office were searched by the FBI in 2022, related to this investigation.
Akhoundova was released after entering her plea and ordered to have no contact with a short list of potential witnesses in the investigation. Her lawyer, Louis Anthony Pellegrino III, declined to comment on whether she was cooperating with the Justice Department.
