Houston-area businessman acquitted in bribery case

HOUSTON - A federal judge has acquitted a Houston-area businessman of all charges in an international bribery case.

A jury had previously found Ramon Alexandro Rovirosa Martinez guilty in December 2025 on one count of conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and two counts of violating the FCPA.

The government alleged that between June 2019 and October 2021, Rovirosa and a co-defendant engaged in a scheme to bribe three Mexican officials. Bribes were alleged to have been offered to at least three PEMEX and PEP officials so they might take action in helping businesses associated with Rovirosa get contracts worth at least $2.5 million.

On April 14, 2026, U.S. District Judge Kenneth M. Hoyt dismissed the indictment and granted a full acquittal for Rovirosa.

"A United States district court judged Alex Rovirosa to be innocent after a full trial," said Ryan McConnell, lead defense counsel of the R. McConnell Group PLLC team that also included Matthew Boyden and Lawrence Finder. "That is the strongest ruling our system can give. This case should never have been brought. These prosecutors needed a cartel case, but they didn’t have one. So they invented one and pinned it on a Hispanic businessman from Houston. When the evidence fell apart, they doubled down. When the Court ruled Alex innocent, the prosecutors asked that he be kept in a cell anyway. That is not a prosecution. That is an abuse of power."

In seeking an acquittal, Rovirosa's defense argued that his Sixth Amendment right to confront his accusers was violated during the trial. The government's case relied heavily on electronic messages sent between alleged co-conspirators via platforms like WhatsApp and Google. Because these messages were translated from Spanish to English, the defense argued the translators needed to be available for cross-examination.

The court found that the government intentionally did not call the translators as witnesses during the trial, meaning Rovirosa was never provided an opportunity to cross-examine them. Furthermore, during deliberations, the jury requested the original Spanish messages, but the court could not provide them because the government had never offered them into evidence. According to the order granting the acquittal, the government failed to produce forensic copies of the Spanish messages taken from the defendants’ electronic devices, despite promising to provide screenshots on two occasions.

"The materials were never produced, and this failing is also fatal to the government’s case," the order reads.

Judge Hoyt dismissed the indictment, acquitted Rovirosa of all charges and ordered his immediate release.

"I came to the United States believing in the American dream. I built a business, raised a family, worked hard, and played by the rules," said Rovirosa. "When these charges came, I never lost faith. Not in this country. Not in its courts. Not in its Constitution. I believed that, if I held onto the truth, an American court would see it. Today, the United States District Court did. I am grateful to the Court. I am grateful to my wife, Tanya, to our children, and to my legal team for never letting go. My faith and God helped me persevere through this ordeal. And I am grateful to the American legal system. It can be pushed, and it can be tested. But when it works, there is no other system like it in the world. Today, it worked. I am going home."