Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Former GOP chairman Greer under criminal investigation

At 12:14 p.m. today, this email went out from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement:

Statement from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Regarding the
Information Referred by Attorney General Bill McCollum

FDLE has received information from Attorney General McCollum’s office which indicates possible criminal activity surrounding a former senior official of the
Republican Party of Florida and Victory Strategies, LLC.

Our Office of Executive Investigations is actively investigating this matter. Given
the open investigation, we are unable to provide additional details at this
time.

This just in from the Associated Press and Miami Herald's Naked Politics blog:

Former Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer is the subject of a criminal investigation after an auditor found he funneled party money to a political consulting company he owned.

Attorney General Bill McCollum referred the matter to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on Mar. 15 after it was discovered during a routine party audit. "This information indicates there may have been criminal activity surrounding a former senior official of the Republican Party of Florida and a company called Victory Strategies, LLC," McCollum said in a statement.

The audit showed that Greer owned 60 percent of the company and Delmar Johnson, the ousted former executive director, owned the remaining 40 percent. Greer authorized the contract to let Johnson take a 10 percent commission on all dollars he raised for the party coffers. It totaled $133,005 for 2009 with an additional $66,250 for other consulting services.

Party Chairman John Thrasher, a state senator, released a statement suggesting this disclosure if part of his effort to clean up party finances. "The Republican Party of Florida may have been the victim of illegal criminal activity on the part of one of its vendors, controlled by a senior-level official," he said in a statement.Read more: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/#ixzz0jm3OT3vb

No comments:

Post a Comment