U.S. charges Philadelphia's top prosecutor with corruption

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

U.S. authorities on Tuesday charged Philadelphia's top prosecutor with accepting bribes, including a Caribbean vacation, furniture, a car and cash, in exchange for favors.

In a 23-count indictment, a federal grand jury outlined a pattern of illegal behavior by District Attorney Seth Williams since 2010, shortly after he was elected to the first of his two four-year terms.

"The indictment alleges that as district attorney, Mr. Williams compromised himself and his elected office by standing ready to help those who were willing to pay him with money, trips and cars," acting U.S. Attorney William Fitzpatrick said in a statement.

The indictment accuses Williams, whose annual salary is about $170,000, of receiving more than $54,000 from bribes and fraud, which the grand jury ordered him to forfeit. His arraignment is set for Wednesday afternoon.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pennsylvania-prosecutor-idUSKBN16S2K8

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U.S. | Tue Mar 21, 2017 | 7:33pm EDT
By Peter Szekely | NEW YORK

[Stuart G]

1. I read some of the charges against him..

They are pretty bad...actual bribes, trips, and favorite things....

and..........he was offered a plea deal..but didn't take it...so.??

I wonder who the jury will believe..because the feds got evidence, and it looks very reliable and clear..

[DeminPennswoods]

2. A lot of hope when he was elected

He beat Lynn Abraham for DA and had lots of support from liberals/progressives. Heck, I voted for him after the stunts Abraham and Timoney pulled at the 2000 RNC in Philly. But what a disaster he's been. He even hired a couple of Corbett hacks, Fina and another guy, when they were forced out of the state atty general's office by Kane. I'm glad he won't be embarassing Philadelphians any longer.

[Stuart G]

3. We had one like that in Illinois........

Blago.....Rod Blagojevich

.serving 14 year prison term......he was governor..not any more...

corruption charges....

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rod_Blagojevich_corruption_charges

[BumRushDaShow]

4. I was listening to the local news radio here in Philly when they broke in

with the press conference this afternoon. The wild thing was all the "acting" US Attorneys (among other "actings" in DOJ and DHS working the case) and the fact that the primary acting US Attorney handling this was in NJ vs here in Philly.

The press conference spelled out some pretty egregious charges. He had only recently amended his ethics report to include some of the items ("gifts&quot listed in the indictment, but not all (e.g., there was mention of his receipt of a used convertible Jaguar). At this point, he will probably have to do a plea deal.

[politicat]

5. ... not in or from Philly, but...

I read the Philadelphia Inquirer version of this and I am not sure what's so specifically egregious *for a middle sized city DA* that this is the new DOJ's first big case. I had never heard of Seth Williams, but my first thought on seeing DOJ indicting a city DA was to wonder what motivated Sessions.

Perhaps I'm being cynical, but white DAs have country club meetings and cigar bar meetings and poof, the scion of a wealthy family who got caught with X or cocaine gets a generous plea. The white, upper middle class kid gets probation for the rape case. Another case that would be a felony for any of us plebs gets pled down, and then there's a generous campaign contribution and hey, back to business as normal.

I am not saying any of those things are right -- they're not -- nor should we encourage any of this. It's all corruption and it's why we're in the mess we're in. Under no circumstances do I approve of this corruption, and I'd really like to see every campaign contribution scrutinized or just done away with entirely. I want so much transparency that there's no means whatsoever for anyone to get away with any form of influence pedaling. But given that law enforcement, anti-corruption enforcement, and the judicial system are limited resources, I recognize the utility in going after the big fish first, the ones taking hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars. And this case isn't that at all.

But this is also Jeffrey Beauregard Sessions III we're talking about. Am I the only one who thinks he's turning a blind eye on the white DAs and judges and other elected officials who are taking far more and doing far worse and going after a black man because Jeff is a big ole racist?

[DeminPennswoods]

6. This predates Trump and Sessions

Williams has been digging himself a hole for awhile now. Politicspa.com will have a lot of the background for you.

[Jose Garcia]

10. You are correct. And Allentown's mayor is next:

Former top Allentown bureaucrat Francis Dougherty pleads guilty, implicates mayor

PHILADELPHIA —Francis Dougherty, Allentown's former managing director and close adviser to Mayor Ed Pawlowski, has pleaded guilty to a federal criminal charge and implicated his former boss in a pay-to-play corruption scheme.

Dougherty, who once shared the mayoral suite at Allentown City Hall with Pawlowski, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud for his role in an alleged effort to steer city contracts and other services to campaign donors. In an ironic twist, he is a former whistleblower, who exposed discriminatory contract practices at the Philadelphia School District, where he was managing director.

According to court documents, Dougherty conspired with an Allentown official identified as "Public Official No. 3" to steer the city's streetlight upgrade contract to a campaign donor of Public Official No. 3. He also threatened to fire a city employee who did not write bidding documents in a way favorable to a campaign donor, court documents say.

more: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/allentown/mc-allentown-fbi-fran-dougherty-charged-20170322-story.html

[Yo_Mama]

11. The whole investigation must have begun under Obama's regime.

These things take a while. Can't blame it on Sessions.

[laserhaas]

7. Nice start..How about charging Preet, Yates, Comey

With Breach of fiduciary duty

And willful blindness

[nitpicker]

8. Link to the DoJ PR- includes diversion of pension, SS, gifts

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nj/pr/philadelphia-district-attorney-rufus-seth-williams-indicted-bribery-and-extortion-charges

(snip)

From July 2010 to July 2015, Williams solicited and accepted a stream of bribes from two business owners in exchange for Williams performing and agreeing to perform official acts for the business owners and their associates.
(snip)

From February 2012 through November 2013, Williams allegedly diverted a relative’s ((mother's)) pension and Social Security payments to pay for his own personal expenses instead of applying them to the relative’s nursing home costs, as was his obligation under agreements with the nursing home. Williams also falsely told a nursing home employee his relative spent the pension and Social Security payments. In addition, after accepting $10,000 from friends of his relative intended to cover expenses for the relative’s nursing home care, Williams spent the money on his personal expenses instead.
(snip)

[RobinA]

9. This Is One Of Those

whhhyyyyy? situations. This guy had a lot of good will coming in and did some decent, reality-based stuff. But he has been flirting with ethics disaster for quite some time now. Why do they continue with the trips and cars nonsense. He could probably have parlayed his DA experiences into some cushy private practice job with a law firm and gotten whatever damn car he wanted the honest way. I don't get these people. I guess that's why I'm just an average person without a high visibility job, I don't have whatever it takes to get and then exploit such a position.

And defrauding your mother?

[Yo_Mama]

12. The cheating-his-mother makes it seem like a drug or psychological thing.

Or maybe he just reasoned that he was cheating the nursing home, but the behavior is so extreme it makes no sense.