DOJ accuses Smartmatic's president of overseas bribery, complicating defamation lawsuits against right-wing media

• Federal prosecutors accused Smartmatic's president of bribery and money laundering.
• The election tech company became the subject of false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.
• Defendants in Smartmatic's defamation lawsuits argue that scandal, not defamation, caused it to lose money.

US federal prosecutors have accused Smartmatic's president of bribing election authorities in the Philippines to keep and expand the election technology company's footprint in the country.

Roger Piñate, the president and cofounder of Smartmatic, faked invoices and contracts in the late 2010s to help pay $1 million to Andres Bautista, the former head of the Phillippine elections commission, the Justice Department said in a Thursday press release.