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

On October 16, 2025 a superseding indictment in Miami named SGO Corporation Limited, commonly known as Smartmatic, in a bribery and money laundering case. The indictment says that between 2015 and 2018 at least $1 million in bribes were paid to a former chairman of the Philippines Commission on Elections to obtain and keep contracts for the 2016 national vote. Prosecutors allege the payments were hidden through over-invoiced machine costs, sham contracts and transfers across bank accounts in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Three former executives, Roger Alejandro Piñate Martinez, Jorge Miguel Vasquez and Elie Moreno, have been charged and have entered pleas or surrendered in U.S. courts. The company and some individuals have denied wrongdoing and have said they will contest the charges. The case has been brought in the Southern District of Florida and will proceed through the U.S. federal system. While the legal process continues Smartmatic is also pursuing civil litigation in other courts, including a high-profile defamation suit against a U.S. media company. The investigation was handled by Homeland Security Investigations and IRS Criminal Investigation with prosecutors from the U.S. Justice Department.