FBI agent testifies about audio recordings { John Ford on Tape }

Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | 4/12/7 | Cindy Wolff

[SmithL]

John Ford agreed to change a state law that would benefit E-Cycle and make the company "extremely valuable," former FBI agent Joe Carroll testified this morning.

An audio recording secretly taped by Carroll at a lunch meeting with Ford on March 4, 2005. He tells Ford to disregard an earlier bill he filed for the company and focus on a later bill that included three words "out of state."

"The change in the law would be so specific?that it would make our company extremely valuable," Carroll said. "We could sell it to other investors, give away stock?.People could get rich overnight by simply changing the law."

Ford bragged to Carroll about helping Memphis developer Rusty Hyneman save a million dollars by avoiding some environmental fines.

In all, Carroll spent about an a hour and a half on the stand testifying for the prosecution about how the FBI created a phony company that would recycle electronic equipment that it purchased. The FBI said the business model didn’t make sense and wouldn’t compete with legitimate companies because no one pays for used electronic equipment.

Carroll, who retired from the FBI in 1998, owns a consulting company. FBI agents approached him and asked him about his former work for the FBI and how he created fake companies to tempt politicians who might be corrupt. Carroll consulted the agents for free but later began charging them $90 an hour for his services. Carroll said he never personally gave Ford or anyone else money.

[SmithL]

URL: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/local/article/0,2845,MCA_25340_5480525,00.html

Ford's Rolex ruled eligible for admittance into evidence

April 12, 2007
U.S. District Judge Daniel Breen has ruled prosecutors can admit into evidence a $45,000 Rolex wristwatch taken from former State. Sen. John Ford at the time of his arrest on bribery charges.

According to FBI surveillance tapes, Ford claims he received the watch for doing a favor for Memphis developer Rusty Hyneman, saving him nearly $1.5 million in fees. In one tape, undercover agent L.C. McNeil, now on the witness stand in federal court, spots Ford’s diamond-encrusted gold watch — complete with pieces of a space rock – and tells the politician: "You’ve been bling, blinging all night long."

[Gondring]

Ping

[GailA]

Good news.