SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Puerto Rican producer Sixto George was found guilty this Friday by a jury of extortion, attempted extortion, destruction, and alteration or falsification of information in a federal investigation.
Sixto Jorge Díaz Colón, the producer’s first name, was facing these charges for offering Anthony Maceira -then former Governor Ricardo Rosselló’s Secretary of Public Affairs- $300,000 to allegedly buy the silence of Raúl “Raulie” Maldonado Nieves, son of the former Treasury Secretary. , Raul Maldonado.
After Judge Francisco Besosa read the verdict this Friday, he ordered Díaz Colón to prison pending his sentencing on May 5, 2023.
Díaz Colón’s lawyer, Rafael Castro Lang, asked Judge Besosa to release his client until that day, but the prosecution requested his imprisonment for being a flight risk and for some expressions he offered on Thursday railing against the entire system. legal and the press.
As he left the federal court in Old San Juan on Thursday, Díaz Colón took the opportunity to classify the federal authorities and the judge in charge of his case as “charlatans” and “abusers.”
Maldonado Nieves was responsible for making public the controversial Telegram chat, which also included Maldonado, which led to the resignation of Rosselló, and 11 other members in 2019.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office submitted the case against George without presenting Maldonado Nieves as witnesses, who is responsible for making the controversial Telegram chat public.
Rosselló and the rest of the people dedicated themselves in that private Telegram forum to speaking contemptuously about women and seriously insulting some of them, laughing at people from the LGBTT community, mocking political opponents and even members of their own party.
The famous chat came to light on July 13, 2019, and, after massive protests in the streets, led to the resignation of Rosselló, effective on August 2 of that same year, in what was one of the most important political crises in Puerto Rico in recent years.
The disclosure of the content in the chat caused the Executive to lose the support of his party, the leadership of the two legislative chambers and the population in general, who put pressure on the street for the departure of Rosselló and his team.
Other members of the chat were the former executive director of the Trade and Export Company, Ricardo Llerandi, and the former executive director of the Puerto Rico Fiscal Agency and Financial Advisory Authority, Christian Sobrino.
Also participating in the chat were the former main legal adviser of the Governor’s Office, Alfonso Orona; the Secretary of Public Affairs and Public Policy of Puerto Rico, Ramón Rosario, and the former press secretary of Governor Yennifer Álvarez.
The group is completed by the former representative of the governor before the Fiscal Oversight Board Elías Sánchez; the president of the advertising agency KOI, Edwin Miranda; public relations adviser Carlos Bermúdez and press affairs adviser Rafael Cerame.
Most of the members of the chat abandoned their responsibilities in the Government or linked to the Executive shortly after the scandal broke out.