The request was made after the The Miami Herald newspaper and the ¨Plan V¨ Ecuadorian Magazine published, last June 2, a report revealing that the Florida-based company Global Research and Asset Management LLC (GRAM) had hired the services of the firm Perceptual Advisors LLC for $250.000 in favor of Lasso’s image during his impeachment process.

On Wednesday, representatives Raúl M. Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Jesús G. “Chuy” García, D-Ill. wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland insisting on the need to open an investigation on Lasso’s “potentially corrupt financial dealings in our country”.

In their letter, García and Grijalva highlighted recent media stories on Lasso, including revelations from investigations conducted into the so-called Pandora Papers showing that the president had allegedly been using US jurisdictions to evade taxes and hide assets, along with a recent Miami Herald article showing that a small Florida LLC had financed an expensive media campaign on his behalf.

According to the Plan V and The Miami Herald, the idea was to improve Lasso´s reputation in the United States and United Kingdom media, not in the South American nation.

“Foreign Agent Registration Act (FARA) filing documents at the Department of Justice reveal that the Ecuadorian government has employed a Florida-based wealth management firm to pay a lobbying firm in the United States to improve Lasso’s image in our country. This Florida-based company is Global Research and Asset Management LLC (GRAM), a shell company long suspected of being connected to Lasso,” they said in the letter.

The documents, however, do not clarify the origin of the money, according to Plan V, since it is still unknown if the Government paid for the contract or if it was Lasso’s own private funds.

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