A Waterbury man has pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges stemming from a 2017 race for New Haven Probate Judge.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Victor Cuevas, 58, was accused of co-operating a Connecticut-based political consulting firm named Yellow Dog Strategies (YDS). Cuevas is a former Connecticut State Representative and was on probation at the time after he was found guilty in federal court in 2016 of “conspiring with others to commit bank fraud in connection with his home mortgage loan applications.”
His company, YDS, was reportedly hired in 2017 by a potential primary candidate in the race to collect signatures to get them on the ballot.
YDS was paid $5,750 for the work which the U.S. Attorney says was never completed. Instead, Cuevas is accused of conspiring with others to submit falsified petitions, causing “signatures of registered voters to be forged on petitions and caused the signature of a purported Circulator to be forged on a Statement of Authenticity.”
The U.S. Attorney’s office says the candidate was unaware of the forgeries and submitted the signatures. The New Haven Democratic Registrar of Voters discovered the forgeries and the candidate withdrew from the primary.
Cuevas pleaded guilty in New Haven federal court to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. He is scheduled to be sentenced on January 17 and has been released pending that sentencing on a $100,000 bond.
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