Gordon Plea Sent Again to Bar Group
Gordon Pull a fast one on Pleads Guilty in Rhode Island Abuse Instance
The climb took decades, but the fall was swift. Less than a year removed from his reign as speaker of the Rhode Island Business firm, Gordon D. Trick pleaded guilty on Tuesday to taking bribes, wire fraud and filing a false taxation return.
Mr. Fox, 53, took $52,500 in bribes to aid a bar and restaurant go a liquor license and illegally diverted $108,000 in campaign funds to pay for personal expenses. He fabricated the admissions in Federal District Court in Providence as part of a plea agreement that calls for a three-year prison house sentence — though a judge will ultimately decide the penalty — and will nigh certainly cost him his police license.
Outside the courthouse, when asked past reporters whether he felt remorse, Mr. Pull a fast one on said, "Absolutely, admittedly, without question."
Last March, land and federal agents raided his offices and home, and Mr. Fox, one of the about powerful figures in state politics, quickly resigned the leadership post and appear that he would not seek re-election in November.
Peter F. Neronha, the Usa attorney for Rhode Island, and Peter F. Kilmartin, the state attorney general, said at a news conference that the investigation had begun as a look into campaign finance abuses. Over a vi-year period, Mr. Neronha said, Mr. Play a joke on used campaign funds to pay "the mortgage on his home, the loan payment on his car and his personal American Express card," roofing charges ranging from shopping at Tiffany & Company to paying the neb at an animal hospital.
The paperwork seized in the raids turned upward evidence of some other crime: bribes that Mr. Play a trick on accepted in 2008, when he was vice chairman of Providence'southward Lath of Licenses, to help the Shark Bar & Grille, in the affluent College Hill neighborhood, obtain a liquor license.
"Not surprisingly, he reported none of the personal income from repeatedly stealing from his campaign accounts" or taking bribes, Mr. Neronha said.
Citing the state's long history of misdeeds by its political leaders, Mr. Neronha said, "As Rhode Islanders, we demand to lose our political corruption amnesia."
Prosecutors would not say whether anyone connected to the Shark Bar & Grille had helped in the investigation, or might besides face charges. Calls to the eatery on Tuesday went unanswered, but the owner, Raymond Hugh, told The Associated Printing that the bribery allegation against Mr. Play a joke on was "news to me."
Mr. Fox, a Democrat, was the first openly gay person and the first mixed-race person to lead either of the state'southward legislative chambers, and he led the drive to legalize same-sex activity marriage in 2013.
He grew upwardly as one of six children in a blue-collar family unit, with a black mother and a white father, and he liked to recollect how he had worked in an water ice cream store to help pay his fashion through law school. He became a lawyer and part owner of a nightclub, and in 1992 he was elected to the Business firm. He became the majority leader in 2002 and the speaker in 2010.
Rhode Island has had more than its share of scandal-scarred politicians over the years, notably Buddy Cianci, a former mayor of Providence. Mr. Cianci resigned that mail in 1984 and was convicted on an assault charge. He made a political comeback to be elected mayor again, and so resigned again and was convicted of racketeering in 2002, serving a prison sentence.
Erstwhile Gov. Edward D. DiPrete pleaded guilty to bribery and extortion in 1998 and also served time. Two consecutive chief justices of the State Supreme Court resigned in the face of corruption investigations, Joseph A. Bevilacqua in 1986, and Thomas F. Fay in 1993.
John Harwood resigned every bit Firm speaker in 2002, and William V. Irons stepped down as Senate president in 2004, amongst other scandals.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/04/us/gordon-fox-former-rhode-island-house-speaker-guilty-plea.html
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