The payments to the couple went through a Texas-based shell company owned by Imelda Cuellar and two of the couple’s children, according to the indictment. That company received payments from the Azerbaijan energy company of $25,000 per month under a “sham contract,” purportedly in exchange for unspecified strategic consulting and advising services.
Sounds like bribery to me.
Even if it was consulting, why would you, as a US Representative, be able to consult for a foreign country?