President Donald Trump is reportedly pardoning former Puerto Rico governor Wanda Vazquez Garced, who pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges last year.
Trump is also pardoning two of her co-defendants, billionaire Venezuelan-Italian banker and Britannia Financial Group founder Julio Martin Herrera-Velutini and former FBI agent Mark Rossini.
White House officials have suggested the case against Vazquez was politically motivated.
“This entire case is an example of political prosecution,” a White House official told Fox News. “In August of 2022, Wanda Vazquez faced bribery charges related to the financing of her 2020 gubernatorial campaign. Ms. Vazquez’ pardon materials state that there was never any element of a quid pro quo deal and that her prosecution was politically motivated. The investigation into Ms. Vazquez began 10 days after she endorsed President Trump in 2020.”
The Justice Department’s Public Integrity section charged Vazquez and the two men in 2022 with conspiracy, federal programs bribery, and honest services wire fraud in connection with Vazquez’s 2020 campaign for governor. All three settled on pleading guilty to lesser corruption charges.
The two men allegedly promised to support Vazquez’s campaign if she dismissed Puerto Rico’s Commissioner of Financial Institutions and appointed a new official. The current commissioner had been looking into financial transactions Herrera had made through his bank that were not reported.
Vazquez allegedly accepted the offer and appointed a new person to the commission. The two men then also paid more than $300,000 to political consultants to support Vazquez’s campaign.
She said at the time of her charging that she was innocent.
“I am innocent,” she told reporters at the time. “I have not committed any crime.”
The White House official told Fox News that Vazquez believed there was no bribery but an agreement on policy with a possible donor.
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“The investigation, she contends, not only monitored her campaign, but also included a monitoring of the Trump campaign,” the official added. “Additionally, Ms. Vazquez believes that there was no bribery at all because the discussions with the banker concerned a matter of agreeing on policy with a potential donor, and not taking action in exchange for a material gain. This case bears similarities to that of Alexander Sittenfeld, who received a pardon in May of 2025.”
Vazquez is the next in a line of controversial political figures Trump has pardoned, including disgraced former Rep. George Santos.