American_Jihad
Flaming Libs/Koranimals
This should be a juicy thread...
The Calderon political dynasty(from left to right): Assemblyman Ian Calderon, former state legislator Charles M. Calderon, State Senator Ronald Calderon, and former Assemblyman Thomas CalderonRich Pedroncelli/AP, Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times
By ELIZABETH WARMERDAM
SACRAMENTO (CN) - A California state senator being investigated for corruption sued the United States, claiming the federal probe is a vendetta for his refusing to wear a wire in a sting against two other state senators.
Ronald Calderon, D-Montebello, claims Uncle Sam smeared him by raiding his office and leaking an FBI affidavit falsely accusing him of accepting bribes.
Calderon, represented by Mark Geragos, sued the federal government Wednesday, the day after he was stripped of his legislative committee assignments pending the outcome of an investigation into whether he took $88,000 in bribes.
The sealed FBI affidavit, which was leaked last month by cable news network Al Jazeera America, claims that Calderon accepted the bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a film studio owner and a Southern California hospital executive.
Calderon, who denies wrongdoing, claims the affidavit was purposefully leaked by the government as payback for his refusal to secretly record the stare Senate leader's conversations with another lawmaker.
Calderon claims in his lawsuit that he "was approached on six separate occasions by high level agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and on two occasions by the United States Attorney for the Central District of California Doug Miller demanding that Senator Calderon participate in a sting operation against Senate President pro Tem Darrel Steinberg. The FBI was specifically interested in Senator Steinberg's financial activities with Michael Drobot, the former Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach.
...
In his lawsuit, Calderon asks the federal court to hold the government in contempt, claiming that the actions of the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office have "prejudiced any future grand jury proceeding and irreparably tainted any future court proceedings involving Senator Calderon."
"The presumption of innocence has been turned on its head," Calderon says in the complaint.
Courthouse News Service
...
California Corruption Probe Takes a Twist
By ELIZABETH WARMERDAM
SACRAMENTO (CN) - A California state senator being investigated for corruption sued the United States, claiming the federal probe is a vendetta for his refusing to wear a wire in a sting against two other state senators.
Ronald Calderon, D-Montebello, claims Uncle Sam smeared him by raiding his office and leaking an FBI affidavit falsely accusing him of accepting bribes.
Calderon, represented by Mark Geragos, sued the federal government Wednesday, the day after he was stripped of his legislative committee assignments pending the outcome of an investigation into whether he took $88,000 in bribes.
The sealed FBI affidavit, which was leaked last month by cable news network Al Jazeera America, claims that Calderon accepted the bribes from an undercover FBI agent posing as a film studio owner and a Southern California hospital executive.
Calderon, who denies wrongdoing, claims the affidavit was purposefully leaked by the government as payback for his refusal to secretly record the stare Senate leader's conversations with another lawmaker.
Calderon claims in his lawsuit that he "was approached on six separate occasions by high level agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and on two occasions by the United States Attorney for the Central District of California Doug Miller demanding that Senator Calderon participate in a sting operation against Senate President pro Tem Darrel Steinberg. The FBI was specifically interested in Senator Steinberg's financial activities with Michael Drobot, the former Chief Executive Officer of Pacific Hospital of Long Beach.
...
In his lawsuit, Calderon asks the federal court to hold the government in contempt, claiming that the actions of the FBI and U.S. Attorney's office have "prejudiced any future grand jury proceeding and irreparably tainted any future court proceedings involving Senator Calderon."
"The presumption of innocence has been turned on its head," Calderon says in the complaint.
Courthouse News Service
...