Jorge de Castro Font

Jorge Adolfo de Castro-Font (born September 10, 1963) is a former Puerto Rican senator and former member of the House of Representatives.

Jorge de Castro Font was born in San Juan, on September 10, 1963, to former Puerto Rico Ombudsman Rafael Adolfo de Castro Campos and María Eugenia Font González.

He is the grandson of Jorge Font Saldaña, one of former Gov. Luis Muñoz Marín's closest associates.

De Castro Font received his bachelor's degree in justice system from the Universidad del Sagrado Corazón in San Juan and his master's degree in history from the Puerto Rico and Caribbean Center for Advanced Studies in Old San Juan.

De Castro Font was also a member of the United States Army Reserve, and served briefly with the Puerto Rico National Guard.

De Castro Font started distinguishing himself as a youth leader for the Popular Democratic Party.

In 1985, he was the assistant of then-Speaker of the House of Representatives, José Ronaldo Jarabo.

De Castro Font decided to run for an elective post in 1988.

He was elected to the Puerto Rico House of Representatives in the 1988 general elections.

He was 25 at the time, making him the youngest elected representative to that date.

He was reelected to the post in the 1992, 1996, and 2000 general elections.

Originally, he was a member of the Popular Democratic Party (PPD) but became an independent representative in 2001 after inner disputes with his party.

In August 2001, following internal disputes within the PPD, De Castro Font left the party to become an independent representative.

There are several versions of the nature and manner of him leaving the party.

While De Castro states that he willfully left the party, others suggest he was forced out.

In 2002, he became a member of the New Progressive Party (PNP) and was elected Senator in 2004 and 2008, despite inner struggles within the party and legal issues.

On September 27, 2002, De Castro Font announced he was joining the ranks of the New Progressive Party (PNP) and announced his candidacy for a Senate position.

De Castro Font went on to win the party primaries and eventually the Senate seat in the 2004 general elections.

The elections resulted in a "mixed" government with PPD's Aníbal Acevedo Vilá as governor, and the PNP dominating both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The PNP majority caucus elected De Castro Font on November 4, 2004, as the Majority Leader of the newly elected Senate, while his friend Kenneth McClintock was elected President of the Senate.

In early 2005, after his narrow defeat in the 2004 gubernatorial race, former governor Pedro Rosselló announced he was aspiring for a Senate seat vacated by a freshman Senator for the district of Arecibo.

After joining the Senate, he expressed his hopes of becoming president of the Senate, and asked his fellow party Senators to support him over President Kenneth McClintock.

However, six Senators, including De Castro Font, refused to do so and continued supporting McClintock.

This prompted the PNP Board to expel several of these Senators, including De Castro Font, while suspending others.

De Castro Font gave up his post as the Senate Majority Leader (which went to Senator Margarita Nolasco), but retained the chairmanship of the Senate Rules Committee, which allowed him to direct all floor activities in the Senate.

As a result of the split within the party, McClintock appointed De Castro Font as chairman of the Judiciary Committee and the Municipal and Financial Affairs Committee, and co-chair of the Joint Select Committee on the Civil Code and the Joint Select Committee on the Penal Code.

De Castro did not recognize the party's decision to expel him and continued to identify himself both as a supporter of statehood for Puerto Rico as well as a member of the PNP.

The Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, in the case McClintock vs. Rivera Schatz, annulled De Castro Font's expulsion from the party in a 5–1 decision.

In a subsequent case, De Castro Font vs. Partido Nuevo Progresista, the Court confirmed his right to appear in the NPP primary ballot.

In 2008, De Castro Font was arrested by the FBI and subsequently charged with 21 counts of fraud and conspiracy.

As a result, he was sentenced to 5 years in federal prison and 3 years probation.

De Castro Font was again nominated on March 9, 2008, in the PNP primary by voters.

On July 8, 2008, it was reported that De Castro Font was under investigation for fraud and corruption by the FBI, which was based on testimony by witnesses interviewed regarding a second case.

The pro-statehood senator responded saying that he "has never received money in exchange for a favor".

On August 23, 2008, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Senator's Capitol office, a San Juan, Puerto Rico gas station at which he was a client and his Hato Rey apartment after obtaining a search warrant from U.S. District Court Judge Francisco Besosa.

On August 25, Federal agents visited the homes of some of his employees.

On that date, he ceased to be the Senate Majority Leader.

The search warrants confirmed the rumor of an ongoing investigation from the FBI against De Castro Font.

These events were considered by the PNP's president and candidate for Governor, Luis Fortuño, as sufficient cause to seek his disqualification as a candidate for reelection to the Senate.

To this, Senator De Castro Font responded aggressively and threatened to reveal information that could link many members of the party in illicit activities, including Fortuño and his wife.