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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A jury found Puerto Rico's former governor not guilty Friday on all nine counts of conspiracy, money laundering and lying to the FBI, concluding his monthlong corruption trial. Anibal Acevedo Vila, who could have faced 20 years in prison if convicted, was the first governor to be charged with a crime since the island became a semiautonomous U.S. commonwealth in 1952. His former adviser Luisa Inclan was also cleared of similar charges. Authorities last year accused Acevedo and 12 associates of participating in an illegal scheme to pay off more than $500,000 in campaign...

SAN JUAN (AP)-Three co-defendants in the case against former Puerto Rico Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá pleaded guilty Thursday while a fourth co-defendant requested his trial be moved to Philadelphia, where he is expected to plead guilty as well. Defense attorneys forJorge Velasco Mella, Ramón Velasco Escardille and Edwin Colón Rodríguez informed the court that they will plead guilty, which prompted federal Judge Paul Barbadoro to schedule three hearings on the matter consecutively at 9 a.m., 10 a.m. and 11 a.m.Friday at the Hato Rey federal court. Judge Bruce McGiverin will preside over the Friday hearings Meanwhile, Candido Negrón Mella asked...

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Dec 29, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) -- Puerto Rico's governor, indicted on corruption charges, posted a video on the popular social networking site Facebook admitting to making mistakes. During the four-minute video, Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila apologized to Puerto Ricans saying he "committed errors." However, he did not address specific charges against him or admit to any criminal wrongdoing, according to the video posted Sunday. A federal indictment handed down earlier this year accused the Puerto Rican governor...

Breaking radio reports. No print or web source yet. Federal Judge Barbadoro has dismissed 15 of 24 corruption charges that weighed over Puerto Rico Governor (Democrat) Aníbal Acevedo Vilá. Details are sketchy, but apparently 13 of the charges have been dropped altogether but two can still be filed again. Related threads: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2010202/posts http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2064806/posts

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...

This morning federal agents have arrested five persons linked to Puerto Rico Governor Anibal Acevedo-Vilá. Late Tuesday, a federal Grand Jury returned sealed indictements after a three year long investigation on the campaign finances of the Governor and his party. Sources say that eight other persons are going to be arrested today, including the Governor and other top party officials. The probe also includes campaign finance schemes which originated in Philadelphia. Governor Acevedo is affiliated with the Democrat Party and is a Barack Obama supporter. Developing...

On Thursday of last week, and following a trying seven-week recount process marked by court battles on the federal and local levels, the Puerto Rico State Elections Commission (CEE) declared Popular Democratic Party (PPD) candidate Aníbal Acevedo Vilá the winner in that U.S. Commonwealth's November 2 gubernatorial election, albeit by a slim 0.2% margin, over New Progressive Party (PNP) candidate Pedro Rosselló. With 99.9% of the island's polling stations accounted for, Acevedo received 961,693 votes (48.4%) to Rosselló's 958,465 votes (48.2%). Coming a very distant third was Puerto Rican Independence Party candidate Rubén Berríos Martínez with 54,447 votes (2.7%), while...