What America needs is competent crooks with character and some sort of long range view so that States are solvent, pension plans are funded, useful products are produced, a modicum of work is done, etc.
The US should not be known as the crime capital of the world? Janet Yellin may rightfully complain about the culture of Wall Street but there is much more to be discussed, changed, and/or modified?
Former Rhode Island House Speaker Fox Agrees to Plead Guilty to Accepting Bribe
Expected to spend three years in prison under deal with prosecutors, U.S. attorney says
ENLARGE
Former Rhode Island
House Speaker Gordon Fox has agreed to plead guilty to accepting a
$52,000 bribe and other charges, federal authorities said.
Photo:
Associated Press
Mr. Fox is expected to spend three years in prison under a deal reached with prosecutors, Peter Neronha, the U.S. attorney for Rhode Island, said at a news conference in Providence. A judge still must approve the agreement. Mr. Fox was expected to enter his plea Tuesday, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney said.
Attorneys for Mr. Fox couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. He was expected to plead guilty to bribery, wire fraud and filing a false tax return, prosecutors said.
Mr. Fox, a longtime Democratic member of the Rhode Island legislature, was named House majority leader in 2002. He was appointed House speaker in 2010 and then resigned the post last year as the law-enforcement probe began. A Providence lawyer who represented the city’s affluent East Side, Mr. Fox was the first openly gay speaker in Rhode Island and was considered a popular figure in what has traditionally been the most powerful political job in the state.
Federal prosecutors allege in the plea agreement that Mr. Fox spent $108,000 in campaign funds on personal use, including on his home mortgage, and purchases at jewelry and clothing stores between 2008 and March 2014.
Prosecutors also allege that Mr. Fox took a $52,000 bribe from a Providence restaurant in 2008 in exchange for helping the business obtain a liquor license. At the time, the restaurant was facing neighborhood opposition and was encountering hurdles to getting the license, Mr. Neronha said. Mr. Fox at the time was also serving on a Providence licensing board.
Mr. Neronha said the government’s case against the former speaker painted a clear picture “that former Speaker Fox looted his campaign account repeatedly over a number of years to pay for plainly personal expenses and that his official appointed position as a member of the Providence board of licenses was for sale.”
Write to Jennifer Levitz at jennifer.levitz@wsj.com
