SAN ANTONIO – As he awaited the jury's decision in his federal trial of fraud and money laundering charges, Texas Sen. Carlos Uresti expressed confidence that he would be found not guilty.
"I'm not guilty of these charges, and I'm confident that today, the jury is going to come back and find me not guilty," Uresti said in an interview with KSAT 12 News reporter Paul Venema.
Reporter Debrief: Uresti Trial
Uresti and co-defendant Gary Cain, who served as a consultant for FourWinds, are facing a total of 20 charges.
"These charges that they brought against me are frivolous," Uresti said.
Prosecutors allege that Uresti lured investors into putting millions of dollars into FourWinds Logistics, an oil field sand fracking company, while knowing it was not legitimate.
Related: Prosecutors: Sen. Carlos Uresti was desperate, needed money
FourWinds later went bankrupt, and the investors lost their money.
Among them was Denise Cantu, a woman whom Uresti had represented in a multimillion dollar civil suit. She invested $900,000 and lost most of it when the company folded.
Cantu testified that she trusted Uresti, whom she called "my lawyer, my friend and my lover."
Uresti insists that he never had the intent to mislead investors, including Cantu.
"You've got to have intent to commit a crime, and clearly, I didn't have the intent to commit any crime," he said.
The jury began deliberating Uresti's case mid-afternoon Tuesday.