Arredondo spends some campaign money on lawyer
Posted: Wednesday, July 4, 2012 1:20 pm
Associated Press
A member of the Arizona House who is charged with bribery and other crimes stemming from an FBI undercover investigation into his earlier conduct as a city council member spent $15,000 of his legislative campaign money on a criminal defense attorney about six weeks before a grand jury indicted him.
The Arizona Capitol Times reports (http://bit.ly/5q8XKc) that Democratic Rep. Ben Arredondo of Tempe had entered a single $15,000 expense on April 3 for "professional services" and "attorney fees."
Arredondo isn't seeking re-election.
The charges of bribery and other crimes accuse Arredondo of soliciting and accepting sports and charity event tickets from FBI undercover agents and of disclosing confidential information while a Tempe City Council member.
Arredondo has pleaded not guilty.
Indicted lawmaker uses campaign cash for legal expenses
SourceIndicted lawmaker uses campaign cash for legal expenses
By Gary Grado
Published: July 3, 2012 at 4:30 pm
Rep. Ben Arredondo spent $15,000 of his legislative campaign money on a criminal defense attorney about six weeks before a grand jury indicted him on accusations he took bribes, according to recently filed finance reports.
Attorney services are legitimate expenses, but most politicians who dip into their campaign funds to pay lawyers have election law or political-related issues, said Matt Roberts, spokesman for the Secretary of State’s Office.
Roberts said Clean Elections candidates have restrictions on what they can spend money on, but candidates who don’t take public money for their campaigns don’t. Arredondo did not participate in the Clean Elections system in his 2010 campaign.
“I’m not sure this would be any different than anything else,” Roberts said.
Arredondo, a Tempe Democrat who is not running for re-election, entered a single $15,000 expense on April 3 for “professional services” and “attorney fees” for Tyrone Mitchell, a lawyer who lists his area of practice as “criminal defense, immigration law, and personal injury” on the State Bar of Arizona directory.
Arredondo was indicted May 16. The indictment states that FBI agents interviewed him on Jan. 17.
Mitchell, who is not currently representing Arredondo in the criminal matter in federal court, did not return a call seeking comment.
When reached for comment today, Arredondo said to call a number listed for his Tempe City Council political committee, Citizens for Arredondo, and then he hung up. Calls to that number went unreturned.
Arredondo raised no money in the period from Jan. 1 to May 31. He began the reporting period with $21,707 and finished with $4,809 cash on hand. His other expenses included $459 in office supplies and a total of $65 to Qwest.
He also donated $750 to Chicanos Por la Causa, $50 to Planned Parenthood and $450 to Arizona Fire Chiefs Association 100 Club.
Arredondo is charged with bribery, extortion, mail fraud and false statements. The indictment alleges he accepted bribes in the form sporting event tickets and the purchase of tables at charity events in exchange for brokering a land deal.
The FBI set up a fake company, Longford Solutions, and undercover agents posed as representatives of the business trying to cut a land deal with Tempe.
Arredondo’s campaign finance reports from his time as a Tempe city councilman reveal that one of the charity events undercover agents paid for was a dinner where his family was honored for its contribution to education in Tempe.
U.S. objects to request in Arredondo bribery case
By The Associated Press
Published: July 2, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Federal prosecutors are objecting to a request that they be ordered to spell out alleged acts forming the basis for corruption charges against an Arizona legislator.
State Rep. Ben Arredondo’s lawyers say they’ve received 139 hours of audio recordings and more than 790,000 pages of written material from the government.
But the Tempe Democrat’s lawyers’ motion says the mountain of material isn’t enough to help his defense prepare for trial.
Prosecutors say the indictment clearly states the charges and that Arredondo lawyers’ questions are answered in material provided by the government.
The charges of bribery and other crimes accuse Arredondo of soliciting and accepting sports and charity event tickets from FBI undercover agents and of disclosing confidential information while a Tempe City Council member.
Arredondo has pleaded not guilty.
Second how can Ben Arredondo possible get a fair trial if the FBI won't tell us the name of the company he allegedly accepted bribes from other then calling it "Company A"??? Yes, I don't like Ben Arredondo but even if he is a crook he is entitled to a fair trail.
Tempe calendar offers glimpse into Ben Arredondo case
by Dianna M. Náñez - Jul. 14, 2012 07:25 AM
The Republic | azcentral.com
A calendar that lists Tempe City Council members' appointments during the period when federal agents posing as real-estate developers met with Rep. Ben Arredondo may shed light on the FBI sting operation.
The bulk of the federal investigation occurred during Arredondo's final term as a Tempe councilman, which ended in July 2010.
A federal indictment against Arredondo states that he brokered meetings between two Tempe council members, an incoming council member and federal agents posing as representatives of a fictitious developer. Arredondo is believed to have facilitated the introduction so the developer would have "personal access to the City Council after his departure," according to the indictment.
The calendar, provided by Tempe in response to an Arizona Republic public-records request, shows that on June 17, 2010, council members Joel Navarro and Corey Woods attended a 2 p.m. lunch meeting with Arredondo and Bill Monahan. There is no listing of whom Monahan represents or why he was meeting with the council members.
Navarro and Woods have acknowledged exclusively to The Republic that they were the council members whom Arredondo had arranged to meet with the developer connected to the FBI sting. Councilwoman Robin Arredondo-Savage also confirmed that Arredondo, who is her uncle, had her meet with the developer after she was elected to her first term just prior to her July 2010 swearing-in.
The three council members have stated that they did nothing wrong and that they had no knowledge of Arredondo accepting items from the fictitious developer. Likewise, Arredondo did not tell city officials or council members that he had received anything of value, according to the indictment.
Arredondo was indicted May 16 on bribery, mail fraud, lying and extortion charges stemming from the FBI sting between February 2009, when Arredondo was a Tempe councilman, and November 2010, shortly after he won the District 17 state House seat. The longtime GOP politico switched parties prior to winning the legislative race.
The indictment alleges that Arredondo accepted about $6,000 in tickets to sporting and charity events in exchange for giving undercover agents the inside track on a Tempe land deal. Arredondo has pleaded not guilty.
Campaign-finance reports filed with the Secretary of State's Office show that Monahan is among four donors who listed Longford Solutions as their employer. They each contributed $410 on May 17, 2010, when Arredondo was running for the state House seat.
Tempe spokeswoman Nikki Ripley said the city has no public records related to Longford Solutions. Arredondo-Savage and Navarro have told The Republic that they cannot recall the name of the fictitious FBI company, while Woods said he can't comment on an ongoing investigation. Public records show that the company no longer exists.
Federal prosecutors have kept the name of the real-estate development company a secret, referring to it only as "Company A." In the indictment filed by the U.S. Department of Justice Public Integrity Section, Arredondo is said to have met with "Company A, a fictitious company whose business objective was purportedly to develop real-estate projects."
According to the indictment, representatives of Company A "were, in fact, undercover agents with the FBI."
Last month, when U.S. District Magistrate Lawrence Anderson granted federal prosecutors' request to seal certain discovery documents, the secrecy surrounding the case signaled to state legal experts interviewed by The Republic that the federal probe could extend beyond Arredondo.
Federal prosecutors asked for the order because they worried that if the "confidential information were publicly disclosed," it might impede investigations, which are ongoing, and disclose witnesses' addresses and phone numbers.
The U.S. Department of Justice has provided Arredondo's attorneys about 139 hours of audio and video recordings and about 790,400 pages of written material related to its investigation.
Although the federal government has not charged anyone besides Arredondo, state legal analysts have said that the mountain of discovery documents, coupled with the federal government's request to seal those documents to protect witnesses and ongoing investigations, are solid indications that the FBI investigation is widespread.
At the Capitol, speculation that lobbyist Mike Williams might be tied to the FBI probe led to Williams being asked to leave a legislative fundraiser last month.
Records filed with the secretary of state show that Williams was a lobbyist for Longford Solutions from March 2009 to June 2010, within the period of the federal investigation. He was a lobbyist for Tempe from December 2003 to January 2011.
Williams said he did not attend the June 17, 2010, meeting with Tempe council members and Monahan. He declined to comment on Longford, or whether Longford is the Company A in the FBI sting.
Williams was asked last month to leave a fundraiser for Sen. Michele Reagan and Rep. Michelle Ugenti, political consultant and lobbyist Stan Barnes said.
"He walked in and said, 'Good news, I'm not wearing a wire,' " Barnes said. "That just sucked the oxygen out of the room."
Reporter Mary Jo Pitzl contributed to this story.
The government shouldn't be able to railroad people into prison by just saying they are bad guys.
Prosecutors must specify allegations vs. Arredondo
Jul. 21, 2012 09:44 PM
Associated Press
A judge is ordering federal prosecutors to address unanswered questions about what exactly is alleged in corruption charges against an Arizona legislator.
The charges of bribery and other crimes accuse Rep. Ben Arredondo of soliciting and accepting sports and charity-event tickets from undercover FBI agents and of disclosing confidential information while on the Tempe City Council.
But the Tempe Democrat's lawyers say it's not clear from the charges whether any other alleged favors were involved.
Prosecutors have provided Arredondo's defense with large amounts of information but resisted having to spell out additional details of the charges.
U.S. District Judge Frederick Martone ordered prosecutors to say whether open-ended wording in the indictment warrants more details in the charges.
From this article it seems like former Tempe City Councilman Ben Arredondo is being railroaded by the FBI who won't tell him the nitty gritty details about the crimes he is charged with.
Arredondo case: Defense request for info denied
Aug. 25, 2012 08:11 AM
Associated Press
A federal judge has turned down a request by state Rep. Ben Arredondo's lawyers for more information about alleged acts forming the basis for corruption charges against the Tempe Democrat.
Arredondo's lawyers said they needed more information to prepare for his defense, but U.S. District Frederick Martone said the indictment is sufficient and that it doesn't have to include every detail of evidence.
Martone also noted that prosecutors had made large amounts of pretrial disclosures to Arredondo's defense team.
The charges of bribery and other crimes accuse Arredondo of soliciting and accepting sports and charity event tickets from FBI undercover agents and of disclosing confidential information while a Tempe City Council member.
Arredondo has pleaded not guilty.
Check out some previous
articles
on Arizona House member Ben Arredondo
and former Tempe City Council member Ben Arredondo
who was arrested by the FBI and charged with
a number of crimes against the citizens of Arizona.
More
articles
on Ben Arredondo
U.S. objects to request in Arredondo bribery case
Look I don't like Ben Arredondo, but he certainly deserves a fair trail.
And of course if you don't even know what you are being charged with
it pretty much impossible to defend yourself against the charges.
Tempe calendar offers glimpse into Ben Arredondo case
I wonder if Joel Navarro, Corey Woods and Robin Arredondo-Savage are crooks like Ben Arredondo is allegedly??
Prosecutors must specify allegations vs. Arredondo
I never have liked alleged crook Ben Arredondo but it certainly is fair to demand that the FBI tell him what crimes he is charged with.
Arredondo case: Defense request for info denied
Sounds like Ben Arredondo is being railroaded by the FBI
Yes I think former Tempe City Councilman Ben Arredondo is a criminal who belongs in prison. But that doesn't mean I think he should be railroaded by corrupt cops and not given a fair trial.