Puerto Rican Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila (here: tinyurl.com/2rvz98 ) and 12 associates have been indicted by a federal grand jury in San Juan and are now charged with 27 counts of conspiracy, false statements, wire fraud, federal program fraud and tax crimes related to campaign financing, and other crimes in an indictment (here: tinyurl.com/2kehqg ) (DOJ press release here: tinyurl.com/353ddq ).

These charges arise subsequent to allegations of improper financing of Anabel Vila's 1999-2000 and 2001-2002 campaigns (election for Resident Commissioner in the US House of Representatives and his 2004 gubernatorial campaign). Prosecutors assert that Vila and associates violated the Federal Election Campaign Act (here: tinyurl.com/33xqzd ) when they authorized "illegal unreported contributions which they used to pay off large unreported debts" which Vila's ran up during his campaigns.

Anibel Acevedo Vila is a member of the Popular Democratic Party (here: tinyurl.com/2mmots). The party does not support full US statehood for the Puerto Rico. He beat out the u incumbent governor who is pro-statehood: Pedro Rossello (here: tinyurl.com/2k5dtq ) in a hotly fought gubernatorial election in 2004. (more here: tinyurl.com/2npsmr ; tinyurl.com/2vjx29 ; tinyurl.com/38oz64 )