U.S. Indictment Adds Smartmatic in Case About Philippine Election Contracts

On October 16, 2025 a federal grand jury in Miami returned a superseding indictment that charged SGO Corporation Limited, commonly called Smartmatic, with conspiring to bribe a Philippine election official and laundering the proceeds. The indictment states that, between 2015 and 2018, co‑conspirators allegedly caused at least $1 million in corrupt payments to be made to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, who served as chairman of the Commission on Elections during the relevant period; those payments were purportedly used to obtain and retain contracts for the 2016 national vote.

Prosecutors describe a scheme in which a slush fund was created by over‑invoicing the per‑machine price, and where coded language, sham contracts and sham loan agreements were used to conceal transfers. The superseding indictment charges SGO Corporation Limited with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, while individual defendants face both FCPA counts and multiple counts of international laundering of monetary instruments; the money‑laundering counts each carry a maximum penalty of 20 years and the FCPA counts carry up to five years for each violation.

Several defendants have appeared in U.S. courts and some have pleaded not guilty, but two individuals remain at large. Smartmatic has denied that its election security work was affected and has said it will contest the criminal claims while pursuing civil cases in other venues, including a large defamation suit in the United States. Homeland Security Investigations and IRS Criminal Investigation assisted prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida, where the matter will proceed through federal court.