Tampering with Federal Land which does belong to every single American. "The verdict was read before media arrived and without advance notice, but a court clerk and a prosecutor confirmed that Renzi had been convicted of some counts, although details were not immediately available. Courtroom sources say that James Sandlin, a Renzi co-defendant, friend and former business partner, also received a mixed verdict. "Renzi declined comment as he left the court. "The former Republican member of U.S. House served the 1st Congressional District from 2002 to 2008 and held a prestigious seat on the Intelligence Committee when he was indicted by a federal grand jury on suspicion of extortion, racketeering, money-laundering, insurance fraud and conspiracy. "The jury deliberated about two and one-half days. "AZCentral reports: "It was not immediately clear whether the defendants intend to appeal their guilty verdicts, but the case was marked by five years of pretrial litigation, including claims by Renzi’s attorneys that charges should have been thrown out due to FBI misconduct and violation of constitutional protections for members of Congress. "In its case against Renzi, the government alleged two conspiracies: "That Renzi embezzled clients’ money from his insurance brokerage, funneled the cash into his election campaign, and then committed fraud trying to cover up the crimes. "That Renzi attempted extortion in connection with plans for a federal land exchange. Beginning in 2004, Resolution Copper Mining sought to arrange a property swap so that it could obtain ore-rich National Forest land near Superior. According to his indictment, Renzi demanded that the company buy a Cochise County alfalfa farm owned by Sandlin and include it in the land-exchange package. When Resolution Copper officials balked, Renzi allegedly made similar demands on another group of real estate speculators who were attempting to orchestrate a federal land swap. Sandlin allegedly used proceeds from that deal to pay off a debt to Renzi." - Learn more at: freakoutnation/2013/06/11/former-arizona-republican-congressman-convicted-on-17-of-32-counts-in-corruption-case/#sthash.n6oJeedj.dpuf
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 03:14:32 +0000
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