According to court documents released this week, a senior aide to previous U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and a political and business analyst have agreed to enter a plea deal to aid in the Democrat congressman’s investigation into conspiracy to dirty more than$ 200, 000 in money and help prosecutors in an a  national criminal investigation.
Colin Strother, Cuellar’s former chief of staff and campaign manager, and Florencia Rendon, a business consultant and former chief of staff for former U. S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, struck plea deals in March to ensure their cooperation in a U. S. Department of Justice investigation into Cuellar and his wife.
In exchange for furthering the interests of the country and the bank in the U.S., the Cuellars are accused of accepting nearly$ 600,000 in bribes from an energy company controlled by Azerbaijan and a bank in Mexico.
Cuellar, 68, has said he and his wife Imelda Cuellar, 67, are innocent.
In addition to bribery and conspiracy, the couple face charges including wire fraud conspiracy, acting as agents of foreign principals and money laundering. They face forfeiture of any property resembling the proceeds of the alleged scheme and up to decades in prison if found guilty.
The plea agreements by Strother, 50, and Rendon, 73, are related to laundering money from Mexico. On Wednesday, the agreements were ordered to be made public. Both men agreed to enter a guilty plea for money laundering conspiracy. Strother faces up to five years in prison, and Rendon faces up to 20 years.
According to the investigators, Rendon and Cuellar had a plan to meet with executives of Mexican banks in Mexico City in 2015 that included drafting fake contracts for Imelda Cuellar to provide consulting services to. According to the indictment against the Cuellars, she “performed little or no legitimate work” in exchange for payment.
Rendon knew the contract was a” sham consulting contract” and that the payments of$ 15, 000 per month were made to funnel money to Cuellar, the plea agreement said.
Rendon would send$ 11, 000 a month to Strother, who would in turn transfer monthly payments to the Cuellars of$ 10, 000. From March 2016 to February 2018, Strother transferred nearly$ 215, 000 to the Cuellars, according to the plea agreement.
Strother produced a spreadsheet on his phone to make sure the payments were accurate when Cuellar confronted him about missed payments to his wife in a parking lot at a restaurant, according to the plea agreement.
” As long as Strother and Rendon tell the truth, we are not worried”, Cuellar attorney Chris Flood said. The Judge in this case should “alert everyone about the credibility of Strother and Rendon” at the appropriate time.
Strother and Rendon’s attorneys did not respond to emails and phone calls asking for comment right away.
Last week, Cuellar and his wife gave themselves to the police and were briefly taken into custody. They were each released on a$ 100, 000 bond after making an initial appearance before a federal judge in Houston.
The FBI , searched the congressman’s house , in the border city of Laredo in 2022, and Cuellar’s attorney at that time said Cuellar was not the target of that investigation.
Cuellar stated last week,” Everything I have done in Congress has been done to serve the people of South Texas.” I actively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee before taking action, which provided me with additional written recommendations from a national law firm as well as additional written recommendations.
Cuellar,  , one of the last anti- abortion Democrats in Congress, narrowly defeated progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros by fewer than 300 votes in a , primary race in 2022.
