Wanda Vázquez Garced

WHAT THE RECORD SHOWS

Vázquez Garced was sworn in as governor of Puerto Rico in August 2019, after Ricardo Rosselló stepped down, and served until 2021; AP reported she was arrested on August 4, 2022, accused of taking part in a bribery scheme running from December 2019 through June 2020, in which she allegedly accepted the offer, demanded the financial regulator’s resignation in February 2020 and in May 2020 appointed a former consultant for Herrera Velutini’s bank as the new commissioner. She was charged with conspiracy, federal program bribery and honest services wire fraud, and officials said at the time that a conviction on all counts could carry up to 20 years. CBS News reported that the Justice Department reduced the charges as trial approached and that in August 2025 she pleaded guilty, with Herrera Velutini and Mark Rossini, to a lesser misdemeanor violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act before U.S. District Judge Silvia Carreño-Coll. The Justice Department’s clemency list prints her district as Puerto Rico, records no sentencing date and no sentence, dates her pardon January 15, 2026, and lists an amended pardon on January 20, 2026 for contribution by a foreign national; Bloomberg Law reported the grants were full and unconditional pardons.