In October of last year, we reported that former Hidalgo County Commissioner A.C. Cuellar filed a lawsuit against newly elected Commissioner David Fuentes alleging election finance misconduct to the tune of $550,000 of unreported expenditures and contributions during the May primary elections.
Last Wednesday, however, A.C. Cuellar’s attorneys have filed an amended petition that included new allegations of misconduct as well as add Ezequiel Reyna, Jr., a prominent mid-Valley attorney who also happens to be Fuentes’ uncle, to the lawsuit.
The allegations are as followed on the amended petition:
D. RELEVANT FACTUAL BACKGROUND
8. Defendant Ezequiel Reyna, Jr. is the uncle of Defendant Fuentes, who made significant contributions to Fuentes’ campaign in the form of monetary contributions, loans, loan guarantees, and other in-kind contributions. Defendant Reyna conspired with Defendant Fuentes by laundering cold cash through Fuentes’s personal checking account.
E. CA– USE OF ACTION I – FAILURE TO REPORT CONTRIBUTIONS AND EXPENDITURES
18. In the course of the campaign, Defendant Fuentes purportedly loaned his campaign approximately $400,000 in personal funds. However, a significant source of these funds was Defendant Reyna, as both a guarantor of loans and a direct contributor. Defendant Fuentes, therefore, failed to accurately and transparently report the true underlying source of the loans in question, and Defendant Reyna actively conspired with Defendant Fuentes to move funds between accounts to avoid disclosure. In sum, Defendants laundered campaign cash through the personal checking account of Fuentes.
F. CA– USE OF ACTION II – CONSPIRACY
23. Defendant Fuentes and Defendant Reyna conspired to unlawfully file false reports of campaign contributions and expenditures, in violation of Chapter 254 of the Texas Election Code.
24. Defendant Reyna provided various contributions to Defendant Fuentes through personal loans and guarantees which Defendants failed to disclose on Campaign Finance Reports in violation of Chapter 254 of the Texas Election Code
25. Defendants were aware the reports were false and took steps to hide the true nature of contributions and expenditures reported by Defendant Fuentes.
26. Defendants filed false reports, knowing of their falsity, in furtherance of the conspiracy.
Cuellar, per the Texas Election Code statute, is suing for twice the amount of the alleged unreported expenditures and contributions, which would net Cuellar and his legal team somewhere north of $1,000,000 if these allegations turn out to be true.
Looking into Fuentes’ campaign finance reports, you’ll find the following itemized campaign loans:
8/25/2015
$7,000 Loan from Dominic Reyna (who works with DKIII Hornback Construction)
$8,000 Loan from Yvonne Ortegon
12/31/2015
$228,660 Loan from David Fuentes
2/9/2016
$119,000 Load from David Fuentes
6/30/2016
$41,360.62 Loan from David Fuentes
$160,950.74 Loan from Ezequiel Reyna, Jr. at a 15.49% interest rate
12/31/2016
$5,910.23 Loan from Ezequiel Reyna, Jr.
$99,954.42 Loan from David Fuentes
That’s a grand total of $670,835.59 worth of loans with nearly $488,974.62 coming from his own pocket. Cuellar is, again, alleging that Fuentes, with Reyna’s help, contributed another $400,000 to this grand total, pushing it to a little over $1 million.
On his website, Fuentes states that he is currently employed as the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for both DKIII Hornback Construction (owned by Albert Ochoa) and Reyna Family Development (who’s owning partner is, you guessed it, Ezequiel Reyna, Jr.), so on it’s face, $800,000 quite a bit of cash to just freely loan your campaign, even on a CFO salary of a small-mid sized family company.
We’ll keep you posted as this story develops.
