Nearly 11 years after federal prosecutors launched a corruption case against former Popular Democratic Party (PPD) fundraiser Anaudi Hernández Pérez, the last pending trial in the case began Monday. It is a jury trial against Ivonne M. Falcón Nieves, former vice president of the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (AAA), who was previously convicted and sentenced in 2020 to eight years in prison, a conviction later overturned in 2023 after a successful appeal to the First Circuit in Boston.
The new trial will determine whether she participated in a conspiracy and wire fraud scheme between 2012 and 2015. Hernández Pérez will testify against her as part of his February 2016 plea agreement with federal prosecutors, which is why he remains unsentenced. His attorney, former federal prosecutor Osvaldo Carlo, said he could not say when sentencing would occur, noting prosecutors sometimes wait until all proceedings, including appeals, conclude.
Hernández Pérez's plea deal recommended 70 to 87 months in prison, though he has remained free since cooperating. The original December 2015 case alleged roughly $2 million in fraud schemes against the Labor Development Administration (ADL), AAA, and the House of Representatives, occurring 2013-2015 under then-Governor Alejandro García Padilla. Other defendants included Sally López Martínez, Marielis Falcón Nieves, Glenn Rivera Pizarro, and Xavier González Calderón.