Posted on 12/15/2016 7:06:00 AM PST by HomerBohn
Salt Lake Tribune) – The $2 million cashier’s check was drawn at a St. George bank Nov. 5, 2010.
From there, it was sent by FedEx to a Los Angeles attorney who represented Ireland-based Full Tilt Poker.
Made out to “Mail Media LTD” — a Full Tilt-owned entity used to launder online-gambling funds — the millions then were deposited at Basler Kantonalbank in Switzerland, where Mail Media had an account.
And from there, Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings is investigating whether it went into a Marshall Islands account in the name of Searchlight Holding Inc. to benefit, or even bribe, Harry Reid, the once-powerful majority leader of the U.S. Senate whom online poker companies had been courting to push a bill to legalize their gaming across the nation.
But documents gathered by The Salt Lake Tribune from state and federal investigations, court filings and public records requests — including audio recordings of interviews and thousands of pages of transcripts, summaries by investigators, emails, requests for evidence and other materials — show that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FBI failed to pursue a vigorous investigation of this money and any potential tie to Reid.
The available evidence contains no direct connection between the money and the Nevada Democrat, only that Rawlings wants to dig into that possibility.
Federal authorities have stymied his effort, leaving Rawlings to wonder why. Were agents ordered to steer clear of that money trail? And, if so, by whom? In short, was there a cover-up?
“Harry Reid is presumed innocent and may actually be innocent,” Rawlings said in a written statement, adding that a “real, vibrant grand jury investigation” could exonerate him.
Even at the state level, though, Rawlings’ push for funding for a grand jury also has stalled. Attorney General Sean Reyes’ office has not turned over any funds for such an inquiry despite months of negotiations.
Reid’s spokeswoman did not return emails and a phone message seeking comment for this story. Previously, his office called any bribery allegations “unsubstantiated” and accused Rawlings of grandstanding to advance his political career.
The FBI declined to answer specific questions but in a joint statement with the Utah Department of Public Safety, FBI spokeswoman Sandra Yi Barker said, “At no time has the FBI or DPS been asked to back off of an investigation of any public official.”
Origins • Rawlings learned about the $2 million check from Jeremy Johnson.
The disgraced St. George businessman, according to transcripts and recordings of investigative interviews, told the prosecutor the money came out of poker funds at now-defunct SunFirst, where Johnson and his partners were illegally processing payments for poker companies. Johnson repeated the story to FBI agents that Reid, who leaves the Senate in January, was going to pocket “a little something extra” for his retirement in exchange for political help.
Johnson’s encounter with the FBI came after the DOJ had aborted an investigation of then-Utah Attorney General John Swallow and his predecessor, Mark Shurtleff, without filing charges.
The cases were picked up by Rawlings, a Republican, and Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, a Democrat. The two prosecutors were joined by Utah-based FBI agents, who, documents indicate, focused only on alleged malfeasance by the two former Utah attorneys general.
Indeed, the document trove tied to the criminal probes of Shurtleff and Swallow — along with a federal bank-fraud case that sent Johnson to prison — are notable for the DOJ’s disinterest in the allegations involving Reid.
“The FBI, via the Salt Lake City Field Office, was willing to investigate these allegations … wanted to actively engage,” Rawlings said. “The Salt Lake office was taking steps to do so, but suddenly they were not.”
Lobbying or bribery • The $2 million reached Shurtleff’s radar from Johnson, his longtime friend and campaign donor, who also told the then-attorney general in 2012 about a $250,000 bid to solicit Reid’s help in thwarting a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation of Johnson’s I Works online-marketing company.
Johnson told Shurtleff that the deal involved Swallow, then a top deputy in the Utah Attorney General’s Office, and the late Provo payday-lending magnate Richard Rawle, who had access to Las Vegas attorney Jay Brown, Reid’s friend and sometimes-business partner.
Shurtleff said he asked Johnson why he considered the $250,000 a bribe and not just “straight-up lobbying” money — as Swallow has argued it was.
“He says, ‘because I bribed Harry Reid before,’ ” Shurtleff recalled in an interview with The Tribune.
Johnson went on, the former attorney general said, to tell the story about the poker companies and the $2 million. That prompted Shurtleff to turn to the feds — the U.S. attorney’s office for Utah, the DOJ and the FBI — two times in 2012 and again in 2013 after he left office.
Following the check • One of Rawlings’ requests to federal agencies seeks an email exchange between Full Tilt executives and Johnson that discusses “a wire transfer, or a cashier’s check, for $2,000,000, or any other amount in 2010,” according to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.
Johnson came to believe the $2 million check was meant for Reid after the Nevada senator, according to the businessman, said at a 2010 fundraising event with online-gaming groups that he would push a bill to clear up any doubt and legalize their U.S. operations under federal law.
Rawlings has granted Johnson immunity from prosecution in his investigation, dubbed “Rogue Runner.” In a Jan. 9, 2014, interview that was part of the probe, the prosecutor asked Johnson, “So you actually did give Harry Reid $2 million?”
Johnson replied, according to a transcript, “Well, it wasn’t written to him but—.”
The funds for the SunFirst cashier’s check were in an account for a company called Powder Monkeys, one of the entities set up in St. George in 2010 to process payments for Full Tilt Poker and PokerStars. The back of the check shows it was deposited into Mail Media’s Swiss account.
A copy of a Nov. 5, 2010, shipping receipt shows the check went via FedEx to Full Tilt’s Los Angeles attorney Ian Imrich, who did not return emails seeking comment.
Documents do not show where the money went, if anywhere, after Switzerland. But on Oct. 27, 2010 — a week before the check was cut — a Marshall Islands bank account was established under the name Searchlight Holding Inc., according to the country’s Reston, Va., business office. Information on who opened the account is not public — whether it was Reid or poker interests or someone else.
Rawlings believes there is a connection between the account and Reid, who has used Searchlight, the name of the Nevada town in which he grew up, with other entities, including his political-action committee, the Searchlight Leadership Fund, and the Harry Reid Searchlight Foundation.
Documents show Rawlings has been trying to obtain evidence from federal agencies about a Searchlight Holding Inc. registered in the Marshall Islands and seven “alleged overseas accounts in the Marshall Islands and Bermuda that purportedly relate to Senator Harry Reid going back to 1997.”
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This is just ONE of the things that Dirty Hairy Reid has been involved in with Utah...
His dealings with the Bundy Ranch are about to come to a head, I think after this trial is over...this has been a long trial due to the nature of the government in Utah...
I’m waiting for the crap storm to hit with the Bundy Ranch, Dirty Hairy Reid, his son, the mob in Vegas and China...
If your not familiar with it, this is a short brief:
The Bundys have a Ranch in southern Utah...they butt up against BLM lands, it has been a long, long thing here in Utah that if your cattle graze on BLM lands, it’s okay...well Dirty Hairy Reid found ‘minerals’ on the BLM lands and on the Bundy Ranch, so knowing he couldn’t do anything about the BLM lands, he went after Bundy...Utah and Nevada farmers where not having any part of that, so there was a big show down...finding out that Dirty Hairy Reid went to the mob in Vegas, who he works for, and his son, who is an Attorney and China wanted the ‘minerals’ for nuclear needs...this case has not fully went to court yet, there will be another one on this...then there is the Hammond Ranch in Oregon...the Bundy people knowing what was going on, Hillary called in the FBI to over take the Hammond Ranch because on their Ranch was Uranium, so the Sheriff got paid a lot of money, went to the Hammond Ranch and served papers that they had to move off their Ranch and lands...again, remember this was Hillary trying to get more Uranium for Russia...there was a big stand off, the Bundy family and the Hammond family are in jail, this has been to court and they were suppose to been released but haven’t yet, and getting information out of there is like pulling teeth...along the way one of the people that was working with the Hammond Family was on his way to court when a “FBI AGENT’ shot and killed the man on the road...he didn’t have a gun, he had his friend and wife in the truck with him, and this ‘FBI AGENT’ shot and killed him...so now you see, when it comes to what some people in our government want something, they take it, does it matter if they kill you, take your home, and land under it? Nope, they are ‘above any law’ written for people like you and me...
Pence will be on this like stink on dog poo.
Pence would not let Hoosiers gamble on horse racing on TV.
But I’m glad for that because if IF!!!! I had a vice it would be the ponies.
In the movie "Casino" the corrupt county commissioner played by Dick Smothers was Harry Reid.
Online gambling was a big issue for the casinos in this time frame.
Online gambling was a big issue for the casinos in this time frame.
Online gaming was a big issue for the casinos in this time frame.
I guess we know now who beat the snot out of him for not coming through.
If I were Dingy Harry, I wouldn’t take a ride out in the desert with any sketchy guys. It is never good to play with the bad guys and become a liability.
Can’t take this seriously until the Washington Post verifies.
2 mill? I’m sure that’s just the pocket change. Prosecute this damn traitor and thief.
Just pay separate $29.95 Shipping and Handling...
And from there, Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings is investigating whether it went into a Marshall Islands account in the name of Searchlight Holding Inc. to benefit, or even bribe, Harry Reid, the once-powerful majority leader of the U.S. Senate whom online poker companies had been courting to push a bill to legalize their gaming across the nation.
Reid is sooo "old school".
he's been there for a couple decades & is getting ready to vacate his seat without having his own foundation set up to handle these simple "charitable" transaction from his "donors"
Yep. Boy, the Obamas will be rolling in payoffs from all these pardons, just like the Clintons did on the way out of the WH.
Agreed.
But not holding my breath. :(
“Thank you” for posting the SLTribune’s link. If people will notice, there is no actual reference in this 12/12/2016 article to “Trump Prepares to Investigate”. Wording the “Title” in this way falls into the “Fake News” category.
Yes, I DO hope our new DOJ Attorney General Sessions, assists Utah Davis County Attorney Troy Rawlings in going after nasty ugly mean spiteful Reid, but let’s keep OUR words factual when posting. It will go a long way in keeping FR’s credibility top-notch.
He’s worth 10 million guess where he obtained it.
Drypowder wrote:
““At no time has the FBI or DPS been asked to back off of an investigation of any public official.”
Not asked but TOLD to back off”
Good catch! Asked vs told....
Weasel wording by that spokesperson...
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