María Milagros Charbonier-Laureano, a member of the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, and her husband, Orlando Montes-Rivera, were sentenced today for their involvement in a multi-year theft, bribery, and kickback conspiracy scheme. The couple was found guilty of fraudulently inflating the salary of a legislative assistant in exchange for a portion of the inflated salary.
From early 2017 until July 2020, Charbonier-Laureano, her husband, and her assistant Frances Acevedo-Ceballos executed a scheme to defraud the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Charbonier-Laureano inflated Acevedo-Ceballos’ salary from $800 on a bi-weekly basis to nearly $2,900. It was agreed that out of every inflated paycheck, Acevedo-Ceballos would keep a portion and kick back approximately $1,500 to Charbonier-Laureano and Montes-Rivera.
Charbonier-Laureano received an eight-year prison sentence while Montes-Rivera was sentenced to four years and nine months. Upon learning about the investigation into illegal activities in her office and obtaining a warrant for one of her phones, Charbonier-Laureano deleted call log entries, WhatsApp messages, and iMessages associated with the phone.
In January, the jury convicted Charbonier-Laureano and Montes-Rivera on multiple counts including conspiracy; theft; bribery; kickbacks concerning programs receiving federal funds; honest services wire fraud; money laundering. Additionally, Charbonier-Laureano was convicted for obstruction of justice due to destroying data on her cell phone.
Acevedo-Ceballos pleaded guilty to bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds and was sentenced in February to three years and one month in prison.
The announcement was made by Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri from the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow for the District of Puerto Rico, and Special Agent in Charge Joseph Gonzalez of the FBI San Juan Field Office. The case was investigated by the FBI San Juan Field Office and prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Jonathan E. Jacobson and Kathryn E. Fifield of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section along with Assistant U.S. Attorney María L. Montañez Concepción for the District of Puerto Rico.