Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28): Indicted on $600,000 Foreign Bribery Scheme, Then Pardoned Before Trial

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX-28) was indicted on May 3, 2024, on 14 federal counts — including conspiracy, bribery, money laundering, and acting as an unregistered foreign agent — after prosecutors alleged he and his wife accepted approximately $598,000 in payments from two foreign entities in exchange for specific legislative actions. He was never tried: President Trump issued him a full pardon on December 3, 2025. Cuellar remains in Congress and filed for re-election the same day he received the pardon.

The Alleged Bribery Schemes

Federal prosecutors alleged two parallel schemes, both beginning around 2014 and running through 2021.

The Azerbaijan scheme. According to the indictment, Cuellar entered an agreement in February 2014 with the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), a government-owned energy company. Payments totaling approximately $360,000 were routed to shell companies controlled by Cuellar’s wife, Imelda Cuellar — initially at $20,000 per month — in exchange for official acts benefiting the Azerbaijani government. The indictment alleged that in May 2014, Cuellar inserted language into the National Defense Authorization Act directing U.S. secretaries of State and Defense to develop a “strategic framework for security force assistance and cooperation in the European and Eurasian regions,” a formulation prosecutors described as advancing Azerbaijan’s interests. In April 2016, Cuellar wrote a letter characterizing Armenia as a “proxy” for Russia. In fall 2017, he allegedly coordinated with an Azerbaijani diplomat to persuade another representative to withdraw a $1.5 million land mine-clearing amendment for the Nagorno-Karabakh region — a disputed territory where Azerbaijan and Armenia were in conflict. The diplomat’s text message to Cuellar read: “You are the best El Jefe!”

The Banco Azteca scheme. Simultaneously, prosecutors alleged a parallel arrangement with Banco Azteca, part of the Grupo Salinas conglomerate headquartered in Mexico City. Payments of approximately $12,000 per month were funneled to Imelda Cuellar’s companies through consulting contracts. In exchange, prosecutors alleged, Cuellar placed language in House bills supporting reciprocal banking relationships, pressured federal banking regulators between May and July 2016, and tipped off a senior bank official about legislation that would have placed a two-year pause on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s authority to issue new payday lending regulations. In June 2016, Cuellar co-sponsored an appropriations amendment — adopted by the House Appropriations Committee in a 30-18 vote — that would have delayed enforcement of the CFPB’s payday loan rule pending additional reports.

Associates Who Pleaded Guilty

Two of Cuellar’s associates did not contest the allegations. Colin Strother, who had served as Cuellar’s campaign manager, and Florencio “Lencho” Rendon, a political consultant, both entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit money laundering in March 2024. Court documents showed that Rendon received $15,000 per month from Banco Azteca for purported “strategic consulting” with no legitimate work performed, and passed $11,000 monthly to Strother, who forwarded $10,000 to Imelda Cuellar’s company. Between March 2016 and June 2019, Rendon paid Strother a total of $261,000; more than $236,000 of that was forwarded to Imelda Cuellar. Strother later acknowledged that the project “was a sham.”

Campaign Finance Context

Separate from the indictment, publicly available campaign finance records document that the oil and gas industry — the sector central to both SOCAR and to Cuellar’s congressional profile — was his top donor industry in the 2019–2020 election cycle, contributing $223,532. A December 2020 investigation by Read Sludge found that a dark money group called American Workers for Progress received $1.3 million from the American Petroleum Institute — which represents Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, Halliburton, and others — and spent more than $720,000 on Spanish- and English-language ads and mailers promoting Cuellar during his 2020 Democratic primary against progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros.

The Pardon

On December 3, 2025, President Trump announced via Truth Social that he was granting Cuellar and his wife a full and unconditional pardon. Trump framed the prosecution as politically motivated, claiming the Biden administration had targeted Cuellar for his public positions on border security. The pardon ended all federal charges without a trial, making it impossible for a jury to weigh the evidence. Cuellar expressed gratitude and said the pardon gave his family “a clean slate.” On the same day, he filed paperwork to run for re-election in 2026.

What This Means for TX-28 Constituents

Laredo and the surrounding Webb County area that make up the heart of TX-28 rank among the lowest-income communities in the United States. The CFPB payday lending rules that Cuellar’s 2016 amendment sought to delay were designed to limit high-interest, short-term loans that disproportionately affect low-income borrowers — the population that makes up much of his district. The land mine-clearing program in Nagorno-Karabakh that Cuellar allegedly helped eliminate was a $1.5 million humanitarian measure. Neither of those outcomes has a direct connection to the district he represents.

What You Can Do

Cuellar has filed to run again in 2026. Voters in Texas’s 28th congressional district will have the opportunity to weigh this record at the primary and general elections. You can contact your own representative about foreign lobbying disclosure reform, and learn about related legislation through our take action page.