Indicted Puerto Rican Senator: I Gave Suitcase of Cash to Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart

NEWS FROM THE FLORIDA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

For Immediate Release: October 8, 2008

Miami FL - Puerto Rican Senator Jorge de Castro Font, who was arrested by the FBI on Thursday, has implicated U.S. Congressmen Lincoln Diaz-Balart, claiming to have traveled to Miami with Congressman Luis Fortuño of Puerto Rico to deliver a suitcase full of cash for Diaz-Balart's re-election campaign.

Puerto Rican Senator Jorge de Castro Font has been indicted by a federal grand jury on 31 criminal counts including bribery, wire fraud and money laundering.

In an interview with WAPA TV in Puerto Rico, De Castro Font stated:

"I am not going to remain quiet.  I am here talking with you. If I was quiet . . . just the other day I said that ...to ask him ... Luis Fortuño said the other day that he was never with me that he has not seen me in four years. Ask him if he went with me to deliver money to Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Miami . We sat together in first class."

In a separate WAPA 680AM radio interview in Puerto Rico, De Castro Font stated:

"I traveled with him [Luis Fortuño] to Miami to give money to a U.S. Congressman. He didn't tell me anything else. Ask him when you interview him if he went to take money to Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart sitting with me in First Class on American Airlines."

In the interviews, Senator De Castro Font claims that the cash for Diaz-Balart was given through the Fonalledas family, and that the trip to Miami to deliver the cash was prior to Fortuño becoming the "Resident Commissioner" - non-voting Congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives in January 2005.

These are serious allegations that Diaz-Balart must address. Did Lincoln Diaz-Balart meet with the Puerto Rican Senator Jorge de Castro Font and Luis Fortuño?  Did he accept $50,000 in cash?  Where was this money reported?  Is there proof of these contributions and a record?

Lincoln has a long history of ethics violations and breaking federal campaign finance laws. Lincoln Diaz-Balart has found guilty and fined $35,500 for breaking federal election law on several occasions. In March of 2000, the FEC released an eighteen-page report announcing that Diaz-Balart's campaign would be fined $30,000 for numerous violations discovered during a year-long audit of the campaign's finances for the 1997-1998 election cycle. The report detailed the collection of $114,000 in contributions that were never accounted for and $30,000 in illegal contributions. In 2001, the FEC announced that they fined Diaz-Balart's congressional campaign $5,500 for filing late campaign finance reports during the 2000 election cycle.

[ Miami New Times, 11/08/01; Miami New Times, 7/26/01; Miami Herald, 2/17/01, Miami Herald, 12/03/00]

View WAPA TV Interview Here:

http://wapa.tv/noticias.php?nid=20081003154222

Listen to WAPA 680AM San Juan Interview Here:

https://rcpt.yousendit.com/612213855/93e24163530b423110e1ca6932c9d7ff

View pictures of Congressman Luis Fortuño at a Fonalledas Fundraiser here:

http://news.webshots.com/album/566602201JShDob?start=12

Transcript - WAPA TV Interview with Puerto Rico State Senator Jorge De Castro Font

2:05 Mark

WAPA TV Reporter:

Are you going to remain silent.

Senador Jorge De Castro Font:

I am not going to remain quiet.  I am here talking with you. If I was quiet . . . just the other day I said that ...to ask him ... Luis Fortuno said the other day that he was never with me that he has not seen me in four years. Ask him if he went with me to deliver money to Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Miami were sat together in first class.

Reporter: When was that?

Senador:  And ask him who took the money?  See what he says. See if he says he never  took it?

Reporter: When did that happen?

Senador: When he was the Resident Commissioner ( Congressional Delegate ).

Senador:  Sure. The money we took him was on behalf of the Fonalleda family.

Reporter: You were with him?

Senador:  Yes

Reporter: In Miami?

Senador:  Yes

Senador:  He controlled the money he had the money not me. I don't know?  He knows  what happened.

Reporter: How much money was it?

Senador:  Ask him.  I know but you need to ask him. He knows what he has to say.

Reporter: More than $50,000?

Senador:  Ask him at a press conference.

Transcript - WAPA 680AM San Juan Interview wit Puerto Rican Senator Jorge de Castro Font

"WAPA 680 AM San Juan..."

"Good morning. Keeping you up to date with the most important news of the day up to the moment...from San Juan, the fact that Jorge de Castro has been charged with 32 counts of bribery and extortion has not stopped him from speaking out about acts that, up until now, had not been made public regarding leaders from his party. In a Radio WAPA exclusive, de Castro revealed that he traveled to Miami along with the President of his group Luis Fortuno with the sole purpose of giving money to a U.S. Congressman. According to de Castro, the trip took place before Fortuño became the Resident Commissioner. But at his trial, it seems as if Fortuño forgot."

Interviewer: "He says that he hasn't spoken to you in 4 years?"

De Castro: "That's a lie."

Interviewer: "Do you have proof of that Senator?"

De Castro: "That's a lie. I traveled with him to Miami to give money to a U.S. Congressman. He didn't tell me anything else. Ask him when you interview him if he went to take money to Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart sitting with me in First Class on American Airlines."

Interviewer: "Why were you taking him that money Senator?"

De Castro: To give it to the Congressman for his reelection campaign."

Interviewer: "So Luis Fortuño traveled with you? What day was that?"

De Castro: "That was before he became a candidate for Resident Commissioner in Washington."

Interviewer: "Oh, Well..."

De Castro: " I know him since I was small."

Interviewer: "Ok, but what he had said was that in the past 4 years, he hadn't spoken to you."

De Castro: "He's lying."

Interviewer: "He's lying?"

De Castro: "mmhmm (yes). He is revealing things slowly. Notice how he didn't discuss his investment in Toa Alta and he revealed it yesterday."

Interviewer: "This money was taken by Luis Fortuño to the Congressman you spoke of, Diaz-Balart?"

De Castro: "Ask him when they make him available. Ask him."

Interviewer: "He took the suitcase?"

De Castro: "Of course. Ask him when he has a conference. I'm sure."

Interviewer: "Of course. He took the suitcase, but you don't know how much was in it?"

De Castro: "No, I don't know how much was in there."

Jorge de Castro is a Senator of Puerto Rico. Luis Fortuño is the Resident Commissioner for Puerto Rico.

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