Mem­bers of Con­gress indict­ed: Cuel­lar joins grow­ing list of offi­cials charged with felonies

Rep. Hen­ry Cuel­lar (D‑TX) joined the list of mem­bers of Con­gress who are fac­ing or have faced fed­er­al charges after the Depart­ment of Jus­tice unveiled a 14-count indict­ment against the Texas Demo­c­rat on Fri­day for alleged­ly tak­ing near­ly $600,000 in bribes from two for­eign enti­ties.
The indict­ment claims Cuel­lar and his wife accept­ed at least $598,000 in bribes from an Azer­bai­jan gov­ern­ment-con­trolled oil and gas com­pa­ny and a bank in Mex­i­co City. The Texas Demo­c­rat and his wife each face 14 counts, includ­ing charges of con­spir­a­cy to com­mit bribery, bribery of a fed­er­al offi­cial, con­spir­a­cy to com­mit hon­est ser­vices fraud, vio­lat­ing a ban on pub­lic offi­cials act­ing as for­eign agents, and sev­er­al mon­ey laun­der­ing vio­la­tions.
Cuel­lar pro­claimed he was inno­cent of the charges levied against him ahead of the indict­ment, argu­ing that “every­thing I have done in Con­gress has been to serve the peo­ple of South Texas.”
“Before I took any action, I proac­tive­ly so …