Free Republic

FBI raids offices at downtown One Cleveland Center building tied to Ukrainian oligarchCLEVELAND, Ohio — The FBI on Tuesday raided the Cleveland offices of a company with ties to a Ukrainian oligarch that owns several downtown buildings. FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson said agents searched the offices of Optima Management Group in One Cleveland Center at East 9th Street and St. Clair Avenue. A spokesman for the IRS also said his agency’s investigators were present....Anderson said agents also executed search warrants at an office in Miami.Federal authorities in Cleveland have been conducting a wide-ranging probe involving Ukrainian oligarch Igor Kolomoisky that...

Robert Powell, the husband of Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, D-Fla., reportedly took $700,000 from a Ukrainian oligarch named Igor Kolomoisky. Mucarsel-Powell sits on the House Judiciary Committee, the committee that drafted two articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump for his alleged abuse of power with regards to Ukraine. In 2018, the Daily Beast reported that a number of businesses linked to Kolomoisky hired Powell as an attorney. One of those firms paid Powell at least $700,000 over two years, according to public records. The Miami Herald reported Powell was working for companies tied to Kolomoisky for 10 years. Powell made...

SCRANTON - Mark Ciavarella admitted he pocketed up to $20,000 from donations to his retention campaign in 2005. About 15 minutes later, Ciavarella's attorney William Ruzzo finished a brief redirect and Judge Edwin Kosik closed the testimony for the day. The admission came after Ciavarella admitted he had recieved business deals through Robert Powell that the average person could not get. He conceded he e had received half ownership in a Florida condo without paying a penny, and that he got involved in W-Cat, a business promising him up to $300,000, without paying any money. Ciavarella said he had to...

SCRANTON – Mark Ciavarella never disclosed his financial relationship with attorney Robert Powell or developer Robert Mericle even when the men stood before him in court, witnesses said Friday in fifth day of the former Luzerne County judge’s corruption trial. Prosecutors have charged Ciavarella with 39 counts of racketeering, bribery, extortion, money laundering, honest services fraud, wire fraud and tax evasion. Jurors heard testimony from three attorneys who argued cases before Ciavarella that involved either Mericle or Powell during the interval in which prosecutors allege Ciavarella had a financial relationship with the men. All three lawyers said they would have...

SCRANTON – Mark Ciavarella approached the van parked along the roadway and tried to enter, first pulling the passenger-side door handle, then the rear. It was July 30, 2008, and Ciavarella, then a Luzerne County judge, suspected he might be under surveillance. He was right. Inside the van sat James Glenn, an FBI agent, and several co-workers. The men had been recording a conversation attorney Robert Powell, a government witness, was having with Ciavarella and Michael Conahan. Glenn saw Ciavarella approaching and hurriedly shut down the recording devices, fearful Ciavarella would hear the humming noise they made. The agents then...

SCRANTON – Aware he and fellow judge Mark Ciavarella were under investigation by a federal grand jury, Michael Conahan met with attorney Robert Powell in July 2008 and issued a dire warning: “I’d never do anything to hurt you, but I never got the cash from anybody. That’s the story, and you better stick to it.” It was July 2008, federal prosecutors say, and Conahan had met with Powell to discuss how they and Ciavarella could thwart the investigation into their alleged financial connections to the PA Child Care juvenile detention center that was then co-owned by Powell. He had...

WILKES-BARRE – The tipstaff for Luzerne County Judge Michael Toole was served a subpoena by the federal agents investigating corruption within the county, two sources familiar with the investigation said Wednesday. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Tom Marino was served the subpoena at the courthouse on Monday. The sources did not know what information is being sought or to which investigation the subpoena is related. Contacted at the courthouse on Wednesday, Marino declined to comment on whether he had been subpoenaed. “I’m not saying it did happen. I’m not saying it didn’t happen,” Marino said during...