United States v. Fattah
| Citation | 914 F.3d 112 |
| Decision Date | 16 January 2019 |
| Docket Number | 16-4410,16-4411,Nos. 16-4397,17-1346,16-4427,s. 16-4397 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellant in 17-1346 v. Chaka FATTAH, Sr., Appellant in 16-4397 Karen Nicholas, Appellant in 16-4410 Robert Brand, Appellant in 16-4411 Herbert Vederman, Appellant in 16-4427 |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (3rd Circuit) |
Andrea G. Foulkes, Eric L. Gibson, Paul L. Gray, Robert A. Zauzmer, Office of United States Attorney, 615 Chestnut Street, Suite 1250, Philadelphia, PA 19106, Jonathan Ian Kravis [ARGUED], United States Department of Justice, Criminal Division, Public Integrity Section, 1400 New York Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20005, Counsel for the United States
Mark M. Lee, Bruce P. Merenstein [ARGUED], Samuel W. Silver, Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis, 1600 Market Street, Suite 3600, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Counsel for Appellant Fattah
Ann C. Flannery [ARGUED], Suite 2700, 1835 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Lisa A. Mathewson, Suite 810, 123 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19109, Counsel for Appellant Nicholas
Alan Silber, Pashman Stein Walder Hayden, 21 Main Street, Suite 200, Hackensack, NJ 07601, Counsel for National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Amicus Appellant Nicholas
Mira E. Baylson, Barry Gross [ARGUED], Meredith C. Slawe, Drinker Biddle & Reath, One Logan Square, Suite 2000, Philadelphia, PA 19103, Counsel for Appellant Brand
Henry W. Asbill, Buckley Sandler, 1250 24th Street, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20037, Glen D. Nager [ARGUED], Jacob M. Roth, Julia W. M. F. Sheketoff, Jones Day, 51 Louisiana Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20001, Counsel for Appellant Vederman
Before: SMITH, Chief Judge, GREENAWAY, JR., and KRAUSE, Circuit Judges
Chaka Fattah, Sr., a powerful and prominent fixture in Philadelphia politics, financially overextended himself in both his personal life and his professional career during an ultimately unsuccessful run for mayor. Fattah received a substantial illicit loan to his mayoral campaign and used his political influence and personal connections to engage friends, employees, and others in an elaborate series of schemes aimed at preserving his political status by hiding the source of the illicit loan and its repayment. In so doing, Fattah and his allies engaged in shady and, at times, illegal behavior, including the misuse of federal grant money and federal appropriations, the siphoning of money from nonprofit organizations to pay campaign debts, and the misappropriation of campaign funds to pay personal obligations.
Based upon their actions, Fattah and four of his associates—Herbert Vederman, Robert Brand, Bonnie Bowser, and Karen Nicholas—were charged with numerous criminal acts in a twenty-nine count indictment. After a jury trial, each was convicted on multiple counts. All but Bowser appealed. As we explain below, the District Court’s judgment will be affirmed in part and reversed in part.
During the 1980s and ’90s, Fattah served in both houses of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, first as a member of the House of Representatives and later as a Senator. In 1995, Fattah was elected to the United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania’s Second Congressional District. In 2006, Fattah launched an unsuccessful run for Mayor of Philadelphia, setting in motion the events that would lead to his criminal conviction and resignation from Congress ten years later.
Fattah declared his candidacy for mayor in November of 2006. Thomas Lindenfeld, a political consultant on Fattah’s exploratory committee, believed that "[a]t the beginning of the campaign, [Fattah] was a considerable ... candidate and somebody who had a very likely chance of success." JA1618. But Fattah’s campaign soon began to experience difficulties, particularly with fundraising. Philadelphia had adopted its first-ever campaign contribution limits, which limited contributions to $2,500 from individuals and $10,000 from political action committees and certain types of business organizations. Fattah’s fundraising difficulties led him to seek a substantial loan, far in excess of the new contribution limits.
While serving in Congress, Fattah became acquainted with Albert Lord, II. The two first met around 1998, when Lord was a member of the Board of Directors of Sallie Mae.
As the May 15, 2007 primary date for the Philadelphia mayoral race approached, Fattah met Lord to ask for assistance, telling Lord that the Fattah for Mayor (FFM) campaign was running low on funds. Fattah asked Lord to meet with Thomas Lindenfeld, a political consultant in Washington, D.C., and part-owner of LSG Strategies, Inc. (Strategies), a company that was working with the FFM campaign and that specialized in direct voter contact initiatives. Lindenfeld had been part of the exploratory group that initially considered Fattah’s viability as a candidate for mayor. Lindenfeld had known Fattah since 1999, when Fattah endorsed Philadelphia Mayor John Street. Through Fattah, Lindenfeld had also gotten to know several of Fattah’s associates, including Herbert Vederman, Robert Brand, and Bonnie Bowser. Herbert Vederman, a businessman and former state official, was the finance director for the FFM campaign. Robert Brand owned Solutions for Progress (Solutions), a "Philadelphia-based public policy technology company, whose mission [was] to deliver technology that directly assists low and middle income families [in obtaining] public benefits." JA6551. Bowser was Fattah’s Chief of Staff and campaign treasurer, and served in his district office in Philadelphia.
Lord’s assistant contacted Lindenfeld to arrange a meeting, and Lindenfeld informed Fattah that he would be meeting with Lord. Lindenfeld, along with his partner, Michael Matthews, met with Lord and discussed Fattah’s need for funds to mount an intensive media campaign. After that meeting, Lindenfeld reported to Fattah that Lord wanted to help, but that they had not discussed a specific dollar amount. Approximately a week later, Fattah instructed Lindenfeld to meet with Lord a second time. Lord "wanted to know if he could give a substantial amount of money, a million dollars" to Fattah’s campaign. JA1630. That prompted Lindenfeld to reply that the amount "would be beyond the campaign finance limits." Id.
Lord proposed a solution: he offered to instead give a million dollars to Strategies in the form of a loan. To that end, Lindenfeld had a promissory note drafted which specified that Lord was lending Strategies $1 million, and that Strategies promised to repay the $1 million at 9.25% interest, with repayment to commence January 31, 2008. Lindenfeld later acknowledged that the promissory note would make it appear as though Lord’s $1 million was not a contribution directly to the Congressman, although he knew that it was actually a loan to the FFM campaign. Indeed, Lindenfeld confirmed with Fattah that neither Lindenfeld nor Strategies would be responsible for repayment. With that understanding, Lindenfeld executed both the note and a security agreement purporting to encumber Strategies’ accounts receivable and all its assets.
On May 1, shortly before the primary election, Lord wired $1 million to Lindenfeld. Lindenfeld held the money in Strategies’ operating account until Fattah told him how it was to be spent. Some of the money was eventually used for print materials mailed directly to voters. And, at Fattah’s direction, Lindenfeld wired a substantial sum to Sydney Lei and Associates (SLA), a company owned by Gregory Naylor which specialized in "get out the vote" efforts.
Naylor had known Fattah for more than 30 years.2 During the campaign, Naylor worked as the field director and was in charge of getting out the vote on election day. On the final day of the campaign, Naylor worked with Vederman, who allowed Naylor to use his credit card to rent vans that would transport Fattah voters to the polls.
As the primary date neared, Fattah and Naylor knew the campaign was running out of money. The campaign was unable to finance "media buys," and Naylor needed money for field operations to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
United States v. Lindberg
...removal and replacement of a Senior Deputy Commissioner by the Commissioner—categorically qualifies as an official act. See 914 F.3d 112 (3d Cir. 2019). There, a congressman was convicted of conspiring to commit honest services fraud after hiring a political consultant's girlfriend to recei......
-
United States v. Scarfo
...] to specify which of the many issues of [their] codefendants [they] believe[ ] worthy of our consideration." United States v. Fattah , 914 F.3d 112, 146 n.9 (3d Cir. 2019) (citing Fed. R. App. P. 28(a)(5) ). "[W]e will [not] scour the record and make that determination for [them]." Id. ; a......
-
United States v. Correia
...And in all events, those comments were not sufficiently egregious or inflammatory to warrant a new trial. See United States v. Fattah, 914 F.3d 112, 189 (3d Cir. 2019) ; United States v. Henry, 325 F.3d 93, 109-10 (2d Cir. 2003).The same is true of the statements linking the defendant's spe......
-
United States v. Brown, 17-15470
...refusing to deliberate, or obstructing the jury's deliberation in any way. See 116 F.3d at 611–12 ; cf. United States v. Fattah , 914 F.3d 112, 141–43, 147 (3d Cir. 2019) (affirming dismissal of juror who admitted yelling at other jurors, who other jurors said placed his hand on another jur......
-
Public Corruption
...corrupt official acts and holding only two of the counts warranted criminal liability post- McDonnell ); United States v. Fattah, 914 F.3d 112, 157 (3d Cir. 2019) (holding a public official hiring an employee to work in his or her government office constitutes an “official act”); United......
-
Federal Criminal Conspiracy
...485 F.3d 1324, 1347 (11th Cir. 2007). 77. See United States v. Broce, 488 U.S. 563, 570–71 (1989); see also United States v. Fattah, 914 F.3d 112, 168 (3d Cir. 2019) (describing the factors used to distinguish between single and multiple conspiracies); United States v. Chen Chiang Liu, 631 ......
-
Public Corruption
...corrupt official acts and holding that only two of the counts warranted criminal liability post- McDonnell ); United States v. Fattah, 914 F.3d 112, 157 (3d Cir. 2019) (holding that a public official hiring an employee to work in his or her government office constitutes an “official act......
-
Preliminary Sections
...follow this rule; Atty can ask this Ques in case-in-chief 611(b) , §415; U.S. v. Bozovich , 782 F.3d 814 (7th 2015); U.S. v. Fattah , 914 F.3d 112, 178 (3d 2019) Bolstering O , 608(b) Bolstering Evd of truthfulness & honesty of Witn irrelevant, unless Witn’s credibility has been impeached 6......