FBI: Currie used influence for chain's benefit
The Associated Press - July 23, 2008
BALTIMORE (AP) - Influential state Sen. Ulysses Currie used his office to benefit a company he was working for, according to an affidavit written by an FBI special agent who specializes in federal public corruption cases. Currie worked as a consultant for Shoppers Food Warehouse but did not disclose income from the company on ethics forms. His dealings with the grocery chain are being investigated by the FBI. Currie, 70, declined to comment to The Associated Press on Tuesday evening. An affidavit for a search warrant unsealed Tuesday at the request of several news organizations says Currie, who chairs the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, also had 320 phone contacts with employees of Shoppers and its parent company over the last five years. The affidavit shows that in 2005 and 2006 while the transfer of a liquor license from one store to another was being considered, phone records showed "frequent contact" between Currie's numbers and those of Shoppers representatives, Prince George's County's chief liquor inspector and a county liquor board attorney. It also shows contacts before the opening of a Shoppers store at Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore and states mall owners needed state land for a renovation key to Shoppers' decision to open a store there.
FBI special agent Steven Quisenberry, who specializes in federal public corruption cases, writes in the affidavit that the Prince George's County Democrat voted on bills that affected Shoppers during the time he received payments from the company and he believes Currie used his influence to benefit Shoppers. "During the time period that Currie received payments from SFW and SuperValu, Currie voted on a number of bills that impacted, or would have impacted, the grocery industry and therefore, SFW and its parent company SuperValu," Quisenberry wrote. "Based on the facts set forth in this affidavit, it is my belief that Currie used his official position and influence in connection with such legislation and in certain business transactions involving the State of Maryland, in ways that benefited or would have benefited SFW and SuperValu."
Information about how much Shoppers paid Currie was temporarily redacted from the affidavit at the request of Currie's attorney, Dale Kelberman. In hearings Monday, Kelberman argued that Currie has not been charged and his right to privacy outweighs the public's right to access. Kelberman has until Monday to file an appeal, effectively extending the redaction until the case reaches the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va. Currie's ties to Shoppers, where he worked as an outside consultant, are under federal investigation. His District Heights home and the chain's Lanham headquarters were searched by the FBI on May 29 as part of the investigation. The affidavit indicates Currie is being investigated in connection with mail and wire fraud schemes "regarding money and property and the deprivation of the intangible right to honest services."
Boy, it's getting really hot here in New York, and I'm not talking about the weather. I must admit, I'm enjoying the additional, yet always disgusting, sweating of the "connected."
ReplyDeleteAm I the only one noticing a more-than-usual foul odor at 60 Centre Street? I say, let the rats scramble, and sweat until their swimming in their own filth.
I, for one, have had it with lawyers, judges and court workers disgracing my lawful work!
Bruno's got his bases covered. He'll slide away free-- free to make MORE money from the public's tit of insider dealing...
ReplyDeleteJudge John K. McGuirk in Orange County mirrors the case of Gerald Garson, the same with Judge Debra Kiediasch, Judge Andrew Bivona. All with the help of the biggest rat Judge Francis Nicolai. Involved and facilitating the rigging of custody and divorce cases, child endangerment, extortion, child sexual abuse, kidnapping, fraud and more...
ReplyDeleteI don't know Judge Francis Nicolai and I am not from NYC, but isn't this judge, at all embarrassed or humiliated, that he is constantly being mentioned on this world wide forum, as a criminal and corrupt memeber of the judiciary...a job that he is obligated to uphold with justice and integrity?!
ReplyDeleteReally..I am embarrassed by him and why does he show NO guilt for what he is being accused of and dogged about.... multiple statements always have some or complete truth to them! Shouldn't he at least attempt to stem or control the damage or if guilty..remove himself before the FEDS do so with handcuffs?
I have read this site for over a year and I feel like this man... is a serious criminal loose and in need of arrest! Why do black dresses, get a free pass to commit crime, daily?
OCA can't possibly think all the people reading this site have not become outraged and disgusted, that multiply JUDGES AND LAWYERS, who took oaths to promote law and order and NOT contribute to it..have become more evil, than any of their family of criminals!
What guilt does Judy Kaye, Judge Phau, Judge Lippman, Judge Jan Plumadore and all the many criminal acting or accepting of those acts, administrative and elected judges throughout the state of NY, feel at home or within their families?
This information is being expressed by many people, over and over again, worldwide, and we should believe that these legal people, have no emotions or regret about their illegal behavior towards the innocent taxpayer of NY STATE?! Why are none of the above, coming forward to correct this devastation or turn themselves in to serve their time?
http://www.examiner.com/a-1504769~Currie_deals_private__No_way.html
ReplyDeleteEditorial
Currie deals private? No way
The Baltimore Examiner Newspaper
2008-07-25
BALTIMORE -
W hat about full dis-closure does Prince George’s Sen. Ulysses Currie not understand? He is no newcomer to elected office. The chair of the powerful Budget and Taxation Committee must know the rules after 21 years in the General Assembly, first as a delegate and since 1995 as a senator.
But despite this experience, he failed to note on ethics forms his employment with Shoppers Food Warehouse and its parent company. An affidavit unsealed earlier this week shows he has exchanged 320 phone conversations with the company since 2004 — or more than once a week to date. We know from the affidavit that “During the time period that Currie received payments from SFW and its parent company SuperValu, Currie voted on a number of bills that impacted, or would have impacted, the grocery industry and therefore, SFW and its parent company SuperValu.”
We still do not know how much the company paid him, because that information was redacted from the forms — in the name of protecting Currie’s “privacy.” That is ironic given that the federal government is investigating him for hiding information that should have been public, and that he certainly felt no qualms about throwing his public influence around. He is a board member of the Capital Area Food Bank, where Shoppers is a major donor and on whose behalf he sponsored a bond bill in the last session giving the nonprofit $500,000 in public money — one of the largest bond appropriations.
Given his involvement with CAFB and the bond bill, we wonder how his affiliation with Shoppers could have gone unnoticed by colleagues, including Del. Melony Ghee Griffith, D-Prince George’s, the House sponsor of the bond bill.
No charges have been filed against Currie. But the affidavit indicates he is being investigated for alleged mail and wire fraud.
At the very least, he deceived his constituents and all Marylanders on whose behalf he serves as Budget and Taxation Committee chairman.
He owes Marylanders the truth, and can start by refiling all his ethics forms going back to 2004. He can also resign his post as committee chairman. He lost his ability to lead when he started to use his power for personal gain.
Examiner