Federal prosecutors allege that Cuellar and Imelda Cuellar accepted at least $598,000 in bribes from the Azerbaijani oil and gas company and the bank, which is headquartered in Mexico City. They allege that the bribes were laundered in the form of sham consulting contracts through front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar. The congressman’s wife, according to the indictment, “performed little or no legitimate” work under the consulting contracts.

Prosecutors said in exchange for the bribes, Cuellar agreed to use the “power and prestige of his office” to advance the interests of Azerbaijan and the foreign bank, which was unidentified in the indictment.