Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Aug. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A federal grand jury in San Juan, Puerto Rico, today returned an indictment against Puerto Rico Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila, a senior aide and a former campaign director for wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Puerto Rico Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez announced. Today's indictment follows an earlier indictment, returned on March 24, 2008, which charged these same defendants and others with related crimes. The five-count indictment returned today in U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico, charges Acevedo...

As a U.S. territory with no votes in Congress, Puerto Rico pays a platoon of lobbyists millions of dollars to press a Congressional agenda that often consists of such gripping issues as offshore tax credits and federal shipping policy. But the agenda has turned anything but boring. This fall, two top Washington lobbyists — both of whom collect hundreds of thousands of dollars annually from Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila's administration — quietly tried to kill the confirmation of a federal prosecutor whose office is investigating whether the governor is involved in a wide-ranging campaign finance conspiracy. Acevedo's lobbying effort, based...