TAMPA — U.S. Lawyer Common Pam Bondi fired the lead prosecutor dealing with a high-profile federal fraud case in opposition to a St. Petersburg businessperson, ostensibly in retaliation for his position in prosecuting Jan. 6 rioters.
A Division of Justice memo dated June 27 and obtained by the Tampa Bay Instances knowledgeable Assistant U.S. Lawyer Michael Gordon that he’d been faraway from federal service. The memo bore Bondi’s signature.
Her motion removes Gordon from a high-profile Tampa case involving the embezzlement of $100 million from medical belief funds going down in Bondi’s house group. It got here a day after Gordon efficiently argued in court docket that alleged perpetrator Leo Govoni ought to be denied bail.
Bondi’s memo doesn’t state a motive for the dismissal however a number of nationwide information shops, together with NBC Information, reported that she fired three prosecutors, all of whom labored on Jan. 6 prosecutions. The prosecutors weren’t named.
The memo cites the president’s constitutional authority and the “legal guidelines of the USA” in eradicating Gordon from federal service, however provides no indication his termination was associated to his job efficiency. Below the legislation, most federal prosecutors are usually not thought-about to be at-will staff, which implies they can’t be fired with out trigger.
The dismissals mark the primary situations of the Trump administration firing Jan. 6 prosecutors who had accomplished their probationary interval of federal employment, NBC reported.
Gordon has served as a federal prosecutor since 2013, in line with his LinkedIn profile. For 2 years he labored on the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Columbia, the place he was senior trial counsel for the U.S. Lawyer’s Capitol Siege Part.
Gordon declined to remark for this story.
“I prosecuted a few of the most infamous January 6 rioters,” he wrote in his profile, highlighting a number of defendants. They included Eric Munchel, dubbed the “zip tie man” who was stated to have wished to take senators hostage. Gordon additionally prosecuted Richard Barnett, who famously put his ft on a desk in Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s workplace.
Gordon transferred to the Tampa-based U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace Center District of Florida in January 2017.
Greg Kehoe, who was appointed as U.S. Lawyer for the Center District of Florida by Bondi, introduced the indictment of Govoni and his accountant, John Witeck on June 23.
One hour later, Gordon represented the USA in federal court docket in Tampa as a decide learn the fees in opposition to the pair following their arrest earlier that day.
Govoni and Witeck have been charged with 4 counts of mail fraud, 5 counts of wire fraud and one depend of cash laundering. Govoni faces extra costs of financial institution fraud, unlawful financial transactions and a false chapter declaration.
Officers from the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace in Tampa stated the case can be prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Lawyer Jennifer Peresie and trial lawyer Lyndie Freeman of the Felony Division’s Fraud Part.
“The case in opposition to Leo Govoni and John Witeck will proceed as scheduled,” stated spokesperson William Daniels in an electronic mail.
The Division of Justice in Washington D.C. didn’t return request for remark.
He was one of many prosecutors who labored with the FBI throughout an 18-month investigation unraveling the the belief fund theft scheme.
The indictment detailed how Govoni and Pinellas County lawyer John Staunton in 2000 arrange the Heart for Particular Wants Belief Administration, a St. Petersburg nonprofit that administered belief funds. He grew it into one of many nation’s largest particular wants belief directors, with greater than 2,000 trusts from throughout the nation.
Govoni resigned from the middle in 2009 however then orchestrated a $100 million mortgage from the nonprofit to his Boston Finance Group firm. The cash was siphoned from a whole lot of belief funds.
It was by no means repaid, leaving a whole lot of injured and disabled belief fund holders with no cash for medical and residing bills. The middle was compelled to file for Chapter 11 chapter.
A federal chapter decide stripped Govoni’s possession of greater than 120 of his firms, together with Large Storm Brewing. He was additionally present in contempt of court docket and fined $300,000 for not offering subpoenaed monetary data.
Throughout a detention listening to June 26, Gordon highlighted Govoni’s lack of cooperation as proof that he may hinder justice and proceed to cover belongings if given bail. Federal Choose Amanda Sansone agreed and ordered that he be detained till his trial or the case is resolved. Witeck was launched on a $500,000 bond on the day of his arrest.
Getting up to the mark on the investigation for a brand new prosecutor can be a problem. FBI brokers and prosecutors performed an exhaustive evaluation of a whole lot of hundreds of financial institution data and firm paperwork, stated Matthew Fodor, particular agent in cost on the FBI’s Tampa discipline workplace.
The financial institution statements for only one of Govoni’s firms totaled 108,000 pages, he stated throughout a press convention.
The detention listening to additionally revealed that the quantity of people that misplaced cash to Govoni is nearly 2,000, many greater than was initially reported in Chapter 11 court docket data.
“I hope (Gordon’s dismissal) doesn’t decelerate justice for the victims,” stated Megan Murray, an lawyer with Underwood Murray appointed to signify victims and different collectors within the Chapter 11 proceedings.
Bondi comes from a Tampa household that was concerned in native politics. Her father, Joseph Bondi, served as mayor of Temple Terrace. She was elected as Florida’s lawyer basic in 2010.
She was nominated as U.S. Lawyer Common by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in February.
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