Feds Searched Sweeney’s Congressional Office, Grand Jury Set For Next WeekWe know the feds have had their eye on former Rep. John Sweeney for a while.
DOJ investigators pulled some of Sweeney’s financial records from the House clerk in 2006 and reviewed them along with those from other lawmakers linked to convicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Now we’re learning about a previously unreported search of his congressional office just about the time voters kicked him out of office in late 2006.
The Times Union up in Albany has made two references (here and here) to the search in its recent coverage:
The FBI also entered Sweeney’s congressional office on his last day in Congress in 2006 and took computers, cellphones, various electronic devices, equipment and records from his aides, two sources familiar with the matter said.
A source close to Sweeney’s former congressional office said the FBI first indicated its interest in Sweeney’s activities when it seized records and computers of his staffers at the end of 2006.
It’s not precisely clear whether this was a search of Sweeney’s office on Capitol Hill or an office back in his district. Whatever the FBI got during that search might not be much help. A federal judge has since ruled that FBI searches in Congressional offices can violate the constitution. (Thanks to Rep. William Jefferson, whose Hill office was raided in May 2006.)
There’s more fallout from the latest raids in the Sweeney case which targeted the office of Albany lobbyist Bill Powers on June 6, where Sweeny’s ex-wife used to work, back when they were still married and he was still in Congress.
The Albany paper got a hold of a subpoena which was served on someone who was both a lobbying client of Powers and for whom Sweeney had helped secure federal funds. The subpoena, dated May 30, 2007, requires that the records and testimony in question be produced to a federal grand jury convening on June 27 in Washington, DC, the paper reported.
The subpoena sought records involving Bill Powers’ firm, Powers & Company; Sweeney’s leadership PAC, United in Freedom Political Action Committee; Sweeney for Congress; Sweeney himself ; Sweeney’s ex-wife, Gayle Sweeney a/k/a Gaia Sweeney, Gaia Ford and Gayle Ford; and Creative Consulting, the firm Sweeney’s wife set up to work as a “fundraising consultant” for her husband (which meant the couple was able to benefit personally from campaign contributions).
“At least one other similarly worded subpoena was distributed to a person associated with the Powers & Company lobbying firm, according to an individual with knowledge of it,” the paper reported.
