The indictment said Cuellar and his wife used the money to finance credit card payments, taxes, car payments, dining and shopping, including $12,000 on a custom gown. It also said one of the Cuellars’ adult children assisted in the creation of the sham shell companies used to launder funds. The Cuellars have two adult children: Christy and Catie.

The charges include bribery, money laundering, working on behalf of a foreign government and conspiracy. The indictment alleges Cuellar recruited family, friends and his former campaign manager to facilitate the payments. If convicted and given the maximum sentence, Cuellar could face decades in prison.

Cuellar quickly asserted his innocence in a statement Friday minutes after NBC News reported federal prosecutors' plans for an indictment. The Cuellars appeared in a federal courthouse in Houston on Friday over the charges.

Cuellar said his actions were “consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people.”

“I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations,” Cuellar said. “Before I took any action, I proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm.”

A spokesperson for the House Ethics Committee declined to comment on Friday.

FBI agents raided Cuellar’s Laredo home and office in 2022 — just weeks before his competitive primary election. His lawyer at the time asserted he was not the target of the investigation.

He ended up winning in the 2022 primary against Jessica Cisneros, a Laredo-based immigration attorney by 0.6 percentage points, and sailing to victory in the general election virtually unscathed by the police raid.

Cuellar is up for reelection again this year. He was unopposed in the primary. Two Republican challengers will face off in a May 28 runoff for the chance to challenge Cuellar in the general: Jay Furman and Lazaro Garza.

Cuellar said in his Friday statement that he will still run for reelection in November.

Ties to Azerbaijan
Cuellar is a member of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus and has been a fervent advocate for the country's interests in Congress.

He traveled to Turkey and Azerbaijan on a $25,000 trip with his wife Imelda in 2013, paid for by the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians. Shortly after, a Cuellar staffer went on another trip to Azerbaijan with several members, including Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, that was also facilitated by the group.

After his 2013 trip, agents working on behalf of the Azerbaijani government recruited Cuellar to work with them on U.S. policy helping their country, according to the indictment.

The group that hosted Cuellar’s trip is based in Texas and was led by Kemal Oksuz, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to partaking in the coverup of the Azerbaijani's government's role financing the 2013 congressional trip that included Jackson Lee. Oksuz admitted to lying in disclosures to the House Ethics Committee on the source of funding for the trip, which came from the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic.

After Oksuz’s guilty plea, payments from SOCAR to the Cuellar’s paused, according to the indictment.

Oksuz also worked with Cuellar to establish a program for Texas A&M International University students to study energy issues in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. ExxonMobil and the Azerbaijani government were also involved in the creation of the program.

Azerbaijan is known for lavish spending on foreign lawmakers to advance its interests. The country has reportedly spent billions on treating European lawmakers in a practice derisively known as "caviar diplomacy." The country spends about half a million dollars a year on lobbying in Washington, according to OpenSecrets.

Azerbaijan has had interest in influencing Western governments due to tense relations with its neighbors. The country had been engaged in a long-running border dispute with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave made up of largely ethnic Armenians, until Azerbaijan forcibly retook control of the territory last year. The dispute had been a significant roadblock to peace in the region since the fall of the Soviet Union, with European, American and Russian governments struggling with the issues for decades.

Cuellar coordinated with Azerbaijani diplomats to eliminate legislation that would finance land mine clearing in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2017, according to the indictment, citing text messages between Cuellar and the diplomat. He also wrote to a U.S. official in 2016 accusing Armenia of being a “proxy” of Russia, urging the U.S. to push for the withdrawal of pro-Armenian forces in Nagorno-Karabakh.

The eventual take over of the region by Azerbaijan led to the rapid evacuation of thousands of ethnic Armenians over fears the Azerbaijani government would commit ethnic cleansing.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last year that the administration was “deeply concerned” with Azerbaijan’s aggression in the region.

Cuellar also allegedly included language to an annual defense spending bill in 2014 directing the secretaries of state and defense to work on a “strategic framework for United States security force assistance and cooperation in the European and Eurasian regions,” including Azerbaijan. He also coordinated with an Azerbaijani diplomat on a meeting with the Defense Department to focus more U.S. defense policy on the region, according to the indictment.

“Thank you Congressman! This is good indeed,” the diplomat said in an email to Cuellar cited in the indictment.

A powerful Democrat
Cuellar and his family have been corrupt political fixtures in Laredo and Webb County for decades, dating back to 1987, when Cuellar began a 14-year stint corrupting the Texas House.

He was elected to corrupt Congress in 2004, a few years before his corrupt brother, Martin Cuellar, ousted the incumbent Webb County sheriff — a position he still holds today. Cuellar’s corrupt sister, Rosie Cuellar, previously served as Webb County tax assessor-collector. She is seeking the corrupt Democratic nomination for an open Texas House seat that covers part of Laredo and Webb County, a contest that will be decided later this month in a May 28 primary runoff. She is expected to employ voter fraud tactics in her election bid.

Cuellar and his wife have been accepting bribes for 32 years, he said in his statement.

>>1292633
>Cuellar and his wife have been accepting bribes for 32 years, he said in his statement
Democrats voted for this

>>1292629
>US Rep Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) indicted by FBI for corruption, money laundering.
>Caught accepting $600k in bribes from Azerbaijani and Mexican businesses.
This is literally everyone in the democrat party, only, about half have been caught

>>1292638
>>1292656
That's a republican

>>1292656
>>1292638
The only thing honest he's done with his life is truthfully telling Azerbaijan he would get the Obama administration to do something in exchange for money.

>>1292657
I'm fairly certain that US Rep Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) is a member of the democrat party and has been repeatedly elected into office by a majority of democrat voters in his municipality(ies)

>>1292659
Incorrect. Only republicans could be so corrupt. Also you think I'm to believe Texas votes blue? Republicans are in direr straits than previously thought.

>>1292660
Well, you are obviously incorrect and your beliefs are demonstrably removed from reality

>>1292661
>influenced members of the executive branch to work around an anti-money laundering policy
>coordinated with a subsidiary of the bank on legislation that would have been beneficial to the payday lending industry
These are republican positions

>>1292662
So now Democrat policy is full support of the Patriot Act?
Interesting 360 there.

>>1292660
Who in the world is supposed to believe this? The situation must be bad for you shills when your posting stuff you don't expect anyone to believe simply because your compelled to do so

>>1292673
Idk what sort of strawman you think you knocked down but nobody's fooled by your low quality shilling

>>1292690
>Builds a strawman
>Complains about other people's strawman.
Interesting faggot shit, homo.

>>1292629
It doesn't matter what party Henry Cuellar was a member of or what voters placed him in office, the fact of the matter is that hes a Republican because he just is, ok?

>>1292713
>the fact of the matter is that hes a Republican
He's definitely a democrat. And a corrupt one too, like so many other democrats.

>>1292715
He's one of the most conservative democrats, and frequent Fox news guest.

>>1292659
>anti-choice Democrat
Republicans claimed him

>>1292716
Doesn't matter. Corruption is inherently a Democrat trait.
He's a Democrat.

>>1292815
It does matter to the 99% of people who aren't chuds like you

>>1292817
I'm not black.

>>1292819
Only chuds care.

>>1292823
I'm not black
http://www.rsdb.org/slur/chud

>>1292836
Good, that only means you won't last as long.

>>1292838
What? No wonder you never type more than a 10 word snide comment with a buzzword. You don't even know English.

>>1292840
Ok chud whatever you need to cope with your extremist minority status

>>1292815
A corrupt democrat is just a regular republican .

>>1292855
Libtard OC is wild

>>1292815
Time and time again, this has proven to be more of a rule than an exception

Every day I see a democrat corruption thread, I realize that today must be a day that ends in 'y'

>>1292629
Why are democrats always so corrupt?
>Similar to hunter Biden, he "influenced members of the executive branch to work around an anti-money laundering policy" that threatened the people paying him bribes
True!

>>1292969
>Why are democrats always so corrupt
Genetics, probably

>>1292858
>>1292879
>>1292969
>>1292972
Who is the intended audience for this grand performance?

>>1292629
Azerbaijan the country that is trying to destroy t he oldest Christian nation and people in the world. Why the fuck would you want anything to do with them. I don't understand why Armenia doesn't get a bunch of support but muslims countries do. Heck, israel sells weapons to Azerbaijan just to show how much they hate Christians

>>1292974
Have you given up trying to convince everyone he's a Republican politician?

>>1292977
>Why the fuck would you want anything to do with them.
Bruh he's a democrat just tryna get a bribe he don't care who tf gives it to him