FBI probes personal finances of House Appropriations chair

FBI probes personal finances of House Appropriations chair

June 8, 2006

RAW STORY


The Federal Bureau of Investigations is examining the personal finances records of House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA), his wife and two aides as part of its investigation into the defense contract lobbying scandals linked to disgraced Rep. Duke Cunningham (R-CA), according to today's Roll Call.

A special agent was also dispatched to the office of another Congressman, Ken Calvert (R-CA) in order to retrieve records.

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Excerpts from Roll Call:

In one of the clearest signs yet that Lewis is himself under the investigative microscope, the FBI retrieved the chairman’s financial records late last month even as federal prosecutors in Southern California were issuing a series of subpoenas to towns and counties in his Congressional district, all of which were represented at one time or another in lobbying activities by a current or former Lewis staffer.

...

The financial records search is part of the continuing federal probe by U.S. Attorneys in San Diego and Los Angeles into the earmarking system used by Congressional appropriators, largely for defense contractors, which grew out of the Cunningham corruption investigation.

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The investigators are in particular examining the relationship between Lewis and a lobbying firm he enjoys a very close relationship with, Copeland Lowery Jacquez Denton and White.

This is big. It could be worth 20 Zarqawi's.

and this sinks him.