Municipality of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
Outcome
Ángel Pérez-Otero, former Mayor of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, was convicted by a federal jury in March 2023 and sentenced on February 12, 2024 to five years and three months in prison for accepting approximately $5,000 per month in cash bribes from a construction company owner in exchange for directing a $1 million road contract and ensuring prompt invoice payments.
Details
Municipality of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico — Mayor Bribery Scheme (2019–2021)
Outcome: Ángel Pérez-Otero, 52, former Mayor of Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, was convicted by a federal jury on March 23, 2023 on charges of conspiracy, federal program bribery, and extortion, and sentenced on February 12, 2024 to five years and three months in prison and 160 hours of community service for accepting approximately $5,000 per month in cash bribes in exchange for steering a $1 million road contract and ensuring prompt payment of the contractor's invoices.
Pérez-Otero served as Mayor of Guaynabo from 2017 to 2021, previously serving as President of the Puerto Rico Mayors Association and Chairman of the Treasury Committee in Puerto Rico's House of Representatives. From approximately late 2019 through May 2021, he accepted approximately $5,000 in cash bribes on a regular basis from the owner of a construction company.
In exchange for the monthly cash payments, Pérez-Otero agreed to steer and retain contracts for the construction company and ensure that the company's invoices were promptly paid. The bribes totaled approximately $120,000 in exchange for a $1 million road contract. He was caught on camera accepting the bribe payments as part of the investigation.
At the time of his arrest, Pérez-Otero was described as the tenth Puerto Rico mayor accused of corruption within a recent multi-year period, reflecting systemic municipal corruption in Puerto Rico.
Primary Source: Former Puerto Rico Mayor Sentenced for Bribery Scheme
How Crucible Prevents This
Pérez-Otero's scheme involved monthly cash payments for ongoing contractor favoritism — a sustained bribery relationship rather than a one-time transaction. Crucible's contractor relationship disclosure hook requires monthly certification by all municipal officials with contract approval authority that they have received no cash or in-kind payments from any active contractor. A contract award concentration audit tracking the percentage of road and construction contracts awarded to any single vendor would have surfaced the unusual concentration of awards to Pérez-Otero's bribe-paying contractor.
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