'Many targets': Attorneys shed light on investigation

Jeff Burlew Karl Etters
Tallahassee Democrat
The City Hall building.

An attorney for a person of interest in the FBI's investigation of the city/county Community Redevelopment Agency told the Tallahassee Democrat the probe has been going on for at least two years.

"Biggest investigation in years" involving politicians in Tallahassee, the source told the Democrat.

The source said the investigation utilized at least three undercover FBI agents from outside Tallahassee. The source also said the investigation is being run out of the U.S. Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section, which oversees efforts to combat corruption at all levels of government.

"There are many targets not listed in the COT subpoenas," the source said. 

The FBI issued two subpoenas last week demanding numerous documents involving the CRA and its activities dating back to April 2012. The subpoenas specifically requested communications between city commissioners and city staff and eight high profile local business people along with more than a dozen of their corporate entities.

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Read more: See federal grand jury subpoenas to the city of Tallahassee

David Moye

David Moye, a former federal prosecutor in Tallahassee, said he strongly suspects the subpoenas are the result of an extensive debriefing by federal authorities of a person or persons with personal knowledge of at least one potentially significant violation of federal law.

The violations could involve conspiracy to commit mail or wire fraud, conspiracy involving a scheme to deprive citizens of the intangible right of honest government services or conspiracy to corruptly give or accept anything of value with the intent to influence or reward a government official.

Wire fraud involves a scheme to defraud and the use of any communications, including cell phones and texts, that furthers the scam. Mail fraud works the same way, though it involves the use of the Postal Service or any private or commercial interstate carrier.

Moye said the subpoenas, if properly complied with, will yield an enormous amount of information — perhaps more than the city will be able to provide the grand jury in Tallahassee by the time it meets July 11. 

 

“It’s by no means a timid subpoena,” Moye said. “It reflects confidence, to me anyway, in their investigative effort to date. Otherwise, they would be accused of a shotgun approach where you have nothing and you ask for everything hoping to get something. Apparently, investigators in the U.S. Attorney’s Office believe they have enough solid leads to support the breadth and the depth of the two subpoenas that were served.”

Moye noted that the grand jury, which operates in secret, will either issue a true bill, resulting in an indictment, or a no true bill, resulting in no indictment. Federal grand juries, which have between 16 and 23 members, are required to return an indictment if at least 12 members find probable cause that a crime was committed and the target of the grand jury committed the crime.

“The FBI has a pretty full plate these days,” he said. “If they didn’t believe it worthy of their investigative resources, they would not be investigating it.”

Kendall Coffey

 

Kendall Coffey, former U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, noted that the subpoenas ask for staff evaluations and recommendations of projects involving the individuals and businesses listed in the document. 

“So what they appear to be exploring is disconnects between staff recommendations and decision making,” he said. “That’s a significant road map, because they are curious to know if staff recommendations have been ignored. Public officials are not obligated to follow staff recommendations, but if you’re looking for a list of transactions which may have been subjected to external influences, that is a logical way to assemble the list.”

Coffey said it’s not clear who may be in legal jeopardy from the investigation.

“Not every grand jury investigation results in any indictments at all,” he said. “So I don’t think we can usefully speculate about who may be in legal jeopardy. What we know is that it’s a serious matter, that it’s starting to take focus and the investigators hope to focus further by identifying any transactions opposed by staff.”

He added the subpoenas suggest the feds are perhaps midway through their investigation.

“They’re not at the beginning,” he said. “They’re not just getting started here, I think. But they’re not within weeks of decisions either.”

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or follow @JeffBurlew on Twitter.