DOJ Alleges Smartmatic Carried Out ‘Slush Fund’ Bribery Scheme in LA to Gain Lucrative Contracts

Joe DePaolo Aug 21st, 2025, 11:53 am

A new federal filing alleges that three executives from the voting technology company Smartmatic carried out a scheme in which they overbilled L.A. County during the 2020 election to create a slush fund for bribing government officials.

In the filing, prosecutors fingered Smartmatic co-founder Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez and two other company officials in connection with a plot in which surplus fees of $10 to $50 per machine were allegedly added to each voting machine dispatched to L.A. county — and then those funds were specifically earmarked for bribes to help the company gain lucrative contracts.

Smartmatic is suing Fox News for $2.7 billi

See Full Page