The charges come as the firm is involved in a defamation suit against Fox News.
The Department of Justice brought charges Thursday against the voting machine company Smartmatic, accusing it of allegedly bribing an official in the Philippines to win contracts, according to court papers filed in the Southern District of Florida.
The indictment accuses Smartmatic and a number of employees of bribing a Philippine official in order to retain business, specifically in relation to the purchase of voting machines in the 2016 Philippines election.
The charges come as Smartmatic is involved in a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against Fox News, having accused the channel of "knowingly and intentionally" spreading false claims of voting machine fraud in the wake of the 2020 election, causing Smartmatic to lose business.
Fox has said they were covering newsworthy allegations made by President Donald Trump and others, and has accused Smartmatic of looking to profit off a lawsuit.
Thursday's indictment alleges that the Philippine bribes exceeded $1 million.
"To finance the bribes, the co-conspirators allegedly created a slush fund by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine supplied for the 2016 Philippine elections," a DOJ press release on the charges stated. "To conceal the corrupt payments, they used coded language, created fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements, and routed transactions through bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including within the Southern...
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