FBI Raids another GOP Congressmen's Office

[jasonxctf]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/16/con...n.ap/index.html

 

correction it was his home not office

Edited October 16, 2006 by jasonxctf

[NorthSideSox72]

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/16/con...n.ap/index.html

 

correction it was his home not office

Correction: his daughter's home.

[Balta1701]

Correction: his daughter's home.

Correction, it was about 6 sites which included his daughter's home, her business partner's home, their offices, and offices related to a Russian energy company they did business with.

[Balta1701]

Here are some more details on the investigation.

 

A grand jury, impaneled in Washington in May, has obtained evidence gathered over at least four months through wiretaps of Washington area cellphone numbers and has scrutinized whether Weldon received anything of value, according to the sources. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the investigation.

 

The investigation focuses on Weldon's support of the Russian-managed Itera International Energy Corp., one of the world's largest oil and gas firms, while that company paid fees to Solutions North America, the company that Karen Weldon and Sexton operate.

 

The congressman, for example, intervened on Itera's behalf when U.S. officials canceled a federal grant to the company. He also encouraged U.S. companies to do business with Itera at a time when its reputation had been sullied by accusations of Russian corruption.

 

And Weldon's defense:

Rep. Weldon said that he never knew who his daughter's clients were. "I've never helped my daughter get anything. My kids are qualified on their own," he said.

 

Weldon assailed the news reports as politically motivated. He blamed a 2004 complaint filed by the liberal-leaning Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which is led by Melanie Sloan, a former prosecutor who also has been a Democratic staff member on the House Judiciary Committee.

 

That complaint was based on a lengthy 2004 report by the Los Angeles Times that described the meteoric rise of Solutions North America and its relationship to Itera, which has long been dogged by international controversy over its obscured ownership.

CREW did in fact file a complaint which seems to have led to this investigation, so he is right on that. Although, CREW does file a ton of complaints, even some about Congressmen and their problems with pages, many of which are not acted on by the DOJ, so it's questionable whether that is important.