U.S. media outfit Fox News can now access documents from election tech company Smartmatic as the news channel prepares to defend itself in a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit, ABC News reported on Wednesday, May 14.
In February 2021, Smartmatic sued Fox Corporation, Fox News, and three anchors over their coverage of the tech company’s fraud allegations following the 2020 U.S. elections, in which President Donald Trump failed to secure a second term. In preparation for the lawsuit, Fox News sought information on another corruption case involving the Philippine Commission on Elections, but in December 2024, New York State Supreme Court Judge David B. Cohen ruled that Smartmatic was not required to supply Fox with these documents.
According to ABC News, a five-judge state Appellate Division panel recently reversed the ruling, allowing Fox to request internal documents from Smartmatic regarding the case with Comelec.
Smartmatic’s Bribery Case
In August 2024, a U.S. federal grand jury indicted former Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista and three Smartmatic executives over bribery allegations. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Bautista had received $1 million in bribes from Smartmatic execs Roger Piñate, Elie Moreno, and Jose Miguel Velasquez to put their voting machines in the Philippines for the 2016 elections. The payments to Bautista were allegedly made between 2015 and 2018.
In 2016, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., then a senator, alleged that Smartmatic tampered with the election results, costing him the vice presidency that went to Leni Robredo.
In 2017, the Philippine Department of Justice (DOJ) indicted several Smartmatic Philippines and Comelec personnel for “changing the script in the election transparency server on election night” in 2016, ABS-CBN News reported. The Smartmatic and Comelec employees were later charged with illegal access, data interference, and system interference, in violation of the Cybercrime Prevention Act.
After the grand jury in Florida indicted Bautista in August 2024, the Philippine DOJ and Ombudsman submitted evidence to the U.S. to support their corruption case against Smartmatic. While Piñate and Velasquez posted bail after surrendering to the Miami Federal Court, the case is not yet resolved.
Due to the scandal, Comelec did not pursue a contract with Smartmatic for the 2025 elections. In February 2024, South Korean firm Miru Systems won a P18-billion contract with Comelec to automate the midterm elections. In addition to the federal case in the U.S., Comelec Chairman George Erwin Garcia also said in August 2024 that the commission is investigating an alleged irregular payment of P700 million in value-added tax (VAT) to Smartmatic in its procurement of voting machines ahead of the 2016 elections.
In July 2024, Miru Systems and Garcia denied accusations that the firm bribed Comelec into using their automated counting machines (ACMs) for the 2025 elections, in what now Senator-Elect Rodante Marcoleta alleged to be a bribery scheme similar to Smartmatic’s.
