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Prosecutor charged with taking $100,000 in gifts, trips
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The city's top prosecutor accepted more than $100,000 in luxury gifts, Caribbean trips and cash, often in exchange for official favors including help with a court case, according to a bribery and extortion indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The indictment caps a nearly two-year investigation into District Attorney Seth Williams' financial affairs. Williams, a Democrat and career prosecutor who makes $175,000 a year, has said he ran into financial trouble after a divorce and while paying private-school tuition for his daughters...
...The 23-count indictment describes gifts from one business owner that included trips Williams took with his then-girlfriend to a Dominican Republic resort, where they stayed in a presidential suite; a custom $3,400 sofa; and $9,000 in cash or checks.
In exchange, authorities said, Williams offered to help the businessman's friend seek reduced jail time in a criminal case his office handled. He also had the businessman meet with an airport police official in an attempt to avoid enhanced screening when returning to the U.S. from abroad, they said.
Williams, known to frequent cigar bars and dine at the city's ritzy Union League private club, also spent $20,000 in funds earmarked for a relative's nursing home care, the indictment said. He was spending Tuesday huddled with family, a spokesman said, and was expected to surrender and be arraigned Wednesday.
Williams, the city's first black district attorney, announced last month he would not run for a third term this year. The 50-year-old said he showed poor judgment and regretted "mistakes in my personal life and in my personal financial life." Eight people, seven of them Democrats, are running for his seat in the predominantly Democratic city.
As recently as January, Williams had hoped to weather the scandal, vowing to earn back the "trust and respect" of his staff and the public. However, questions about the investigation dogged him as he tried to carry out his duties. The charges announced Tuesday included honest-services fraud.
Special agents with the FBI, the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security declined to elaborate on the charges...
Drain the swamp.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The city's top prosecutor accepted more than $100,000 in luxury gifts, Caribbean trips and cash, often in exchange for official favors including help with a court case, according to a bribery and extortion indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The indictment caps a nearly two-year investigation into District Attorney Seth Williams' financial affairs. Williams, a Democrat and career prosecutor who makes $175,000 a year, has said he ran into financial trouble after a divorce and while paying private-school tuition for his daughters...
...The 23-count indictment describes gifts from one business owner that included trips Williams took with his then-girlfriend to a Dominican Republic resort, where they stayed in a presidential suite; a custom $3,400 sofa; and $9,000 in cash or checks.
In exchange, authorities said, Williams offered to help the businessman's friend seek reduced jail time in a criminal case his office handled. He also had the businessman meet with an airport police official in an attempt to avoid enhanced screening when returning to the U.S. from abroad, they said.
Williams, known to frequent cigar bars and dine at the city's ritzy Union League private club, also spent $20,000 in funds earmarked for a relative's nursing home care, the indictment said. He was spending Tuesday huddled with family, a spokesman said, and was expected to surrender and be arraigned Wednesday.
Williams, the city's first black district attorney, announced last month he would not run for a third term this year. The 50-year-old said he showed poor judgment and regretted "mistakes in my personal life and in my personal financial life." Eight people, seven of them Democrats, are running for his seat in the predominantly Democratic city.
As recently as January, Williams had hoped to weather the scandal, vowing to earn back the "trust and respect" of his staff and the public. However, questions about the investigation dogged him as he tried to carry out his duties. The charges announced Tuesday included honest-services fraud.
Special agents with the FBI, the IRS and the Department of Homeland Security declined to elaborate on the charges...
Drain the swamp.
