MIAMI — A federal grandy jury in Miami has charged the Venezuelan co-founder of a voting machine company targeted by allies of former President Donald Trump with paying more than $1 million in bribes to officials in the Philippines in exchange for contracts it won overseeing the island nation’s elections nearly a decade ago.
“No voter fraud has been alleged and Smartmatic is not indicted,” the company said in a statement. “Voters worldwide must be assured that the elections they participate in are conducted with the utmost integrity and transparency.” Smartmatic sued Fox News for airing false claims that software it developed altered the outcome of the 2020 U.S. presidential election. In April, another conservative media outlet, One America News Network, settled with Smartmatic similar allegations for undisclosed terms.