Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) was investigated during a 2011 criminal probe into a real estate deal initiated while he was Milwaukee County Executive, according to court documents filed in federal court on Wednesday. The governor had previously denied that he was targeted in the investigation.
“I submit that there is probable cause to believe that Scott Walker, John Hiller and Andrew Jensen, in concert together, committed a felony, i.e., Misconduct in Public Office,” investigator Robert Stelter wrote in a 2011 request for a search warrant, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Walker was never charged with a crime, and the investigation closed two years ago. Several of Walker’s aides were convicted for crimes unrelated to the real estate deal, per the Journal Sentinel:
The wide-ranging inquiry resulted in charges and convictions of six Walker aides and associates for matters that included campaigning using taxpayer resources and stealing from a veterans fund. Prosecutors did not ultimately charge anyone over the real estate deal, and they shut down the probe in March 2013.
Before closing it, they opened a second investigation into whether Walker’s campaign had violated campaign finance laws by working closely with conservative groups. The state Supreme Court ended that investigation last month, concluding no laws had been broken.
Walker has repeatedly denied that he was under federal investigation, according to the Capital Times.
“Absolutely not,” he said June 2012, according to Buzzfeed News. “One hundred percent wrong. Could not be more wrong. It’s just more of the liberal scare tactics out there, desperately trying to get the (gubernatorial) campaign off target.”
