Posted on 08/03/2011 12:05:05 PM PDT by jazusamo
A Philadelphia lawyer and aide to a Florida congressman has pleaded not guilty to charges that he ripped off a hedge fund.
Mikel Jones' trial on fraud and money laundering charges is set to begin in September in Philadelphia. The longtime aide to Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) and longtime friend of Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), Jones is accused of using "fraudulent invoices and false representations" to win loans from the New York hedge fund, which is not identified.
Jones accepted more than $300,000 in loans from the hedge fund, according to the indictment against him. He is also accused of borrowing $150,000 from a program run by the city of Philadelphia to support minority-owned businesses while repaying only $20,000.
"Did I use some of the [Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp.] money for personal use? Yes," Jones admitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to court filings. "If I don't survive, the law firm doesn't survive, and the loan was to help the law firm survive."
But prosecutors allege that some of the money paid for football tickets, his wife's American Express bill and a lavish birthday party for his wife.
Must be an “Amish” guy?
Just trying to get over.
Looks like Jones was just trying to make ends meet. /sarc
That there tells you all you need to know.
Mikel Jones’ trial on fraud and money laundering charges is set to begin in September in Philadelphia. The longtime aide to Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) and longtime friend of Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.), Jones is accused of using “fraudulent invoices and false representations” to win loans from the New York hedge fund, which is not identified.
Jones accepted more than $300,000 in loans from the hedge fund, according to the indictment against him. He is also accused of borrowing $150,000 from a program run by the city of Philadelphia to support minority-owned businesses while repaying only $20,000.
“Did I use some of the [Philadelphia Commercial Development Corp.] money for personal use? Yes,” Jones admitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to court filings. “If I don’t survive, the law firm doesn’t survive, and the loan was to help the law firm survive.”
But prosecutors allege that some of the money paid for football tickets, his wife’s American Express bill and a lavish birthday party for his wife
http://www.finalternatives.com/node/17616
Hastings should be in prison. I don’t believe an aid of 10 years would not share this info and the spoils with his boss. imho
He's got a sexual harassment suit against him right now by a former aide.
Like I said, “Amish”.
Congressional Aides also get to run law firms? Something stinks. An IRS audit is in order, don’t you think? While they are there, perhaps an audit of Hastings other aides would determine that there was nothing inappropriate going on with these payments.
Yes, something doesn’t seem right. If Jones was just a lawyer handling Hastings’ affairs it doesn’t seem to me he’d be listed and paid as an aide, it seems to me Jones would just have billed him for services.
Very intersting
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