The Banker Venezuelan Julio Herrera Velutini surrendered to the FBI in San Juan on Wednesday to face charges related to the case against former Puerto Rico governor Wanda Vasquez Garst.
A hearing is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. via video conference before Judge Giselle Lopez Soler.
Recently, Herrera Velutini produced three lawyers representing him in the case. One of them is attorney Lily Ann Sanchez, who has her office in Miami, Florida, according to public motions filed in the case file.
Sanchez rose to fame in 2008 as part of the legal defense of Jeffrey Epstein, who was accused of sexually abusing a minor under the age of 14, with a three-year career that included a stint as a federal prosecutor.
Sanchez was part of a plea deal for Epstein that served 13 months in prison. Later, in 2019, he was charged by federal authorities with sex trafficking of minors in Florida and New York after identifying 36 girls who were allegedly abused by Epstein and later killed themselves in prison.
Once in court, Sanchez will sign all motions in court.
Herrera Velutini is represented by Michael Schweibach, an attorney in the United States based in Los Angeles, California.
In his motion, he noted that he was “personally employed by Mr. Herrera to provide legal representation in connection with the aforementioned case pending in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico.”
Sonia Torres Papon will be Herrera Velutini’s attorney in Puerto Rico.
Herrera Velutini was one of the co-defendants taken into FBI custody in connection with the case, as he was in London, England when the grand jury issued the indictment.
Vázquez Garcett was arrested by FBI agents on August 4 at his residence in Rio Piedras.
The other defendant in the case, Herrera Velutini’s former counsel and former FBI agent Mark Rossini, turned himself in to authorities on August 9 after traveling from his home in Madrid, Spain.
According to a federal grand jury indictment, the trio conspired with Rossini’s help to obtain contributions to Vasquez Corset’s gubernatorial campaign from the banker in exchange for the then-official’s removal of George Joyner from the Office of Finance Commissioner. Institutions (OCIF), to end an audit that found suspicious transactions in Herrera Velutini’s bank accounts.
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