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F.B.I. Searches Home of Congressman’s Daughter
By DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: October 16, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 — Federal agents executed search warrants today at the homes of Representative Curt Weldon’s daughter and a longtime political associate in an investigation into whether Mr. Weldon, a Republican from Pennsylvania, improperly aided their efforts to obtain lobbying and public relations contracts, law enforcement officials said.
F.B.I. agents searched four homes and other locations in the vicinity of Philadelphia and two other sites near Jacksonville, Fla., as the part of the inquiry. Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman for the bureau’s Washington office, confirmed the searches, but would not say why the locations were searched.
Mr. Weldon’s residence and his Congressional office were not among the locations that were examined, but other law enforcement officials said Mr. Weldon was the subject of a growing corruption inquiry. Affidavits citing why agents wanted to carry out the searches were sealed.
Mr. Weldon was first elected to his district on the outskirts of Philadelphia in 1984 and is vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He is in a close re-election race against Joseph Sestak, a Democrat who is a former three-star admiral and national security aide in the Clinton White House.
Mr. Weldon said today that the investigation was politically motivated and that the disclosure of the inquiry, in news accounts in recent days, was suspect.
““What I find ironic, if there is an investigation, is that no one would tell me until three weeks before the election,” Mr. Weldon said, according to The Associated Press.
Law enforcement officials said the investigation of Mr. Weldon had been under way for several months. The officials said authorities did not confirm the existence of the investigation or conduct the searches, until after news organizations learned of it. It is not known how McClatchy Newspapers, which first reported the inquiry on Saturday, learned of it.
Today, a spokesman for Mr. Weldon’s campaign, Pete Peterson, said he had no comment on the matter and referred calls to Mr. Weldon’s Washington office. Mr. Weldon’s campaign manager, Michael Puppio Jr., and his chief of staff in Washington, Russ Caso, did not return messages seeking comment.
Mr. Weldon has at times gotten into disagreements with the Bush administration. He maintained that a secret military unit known as “Able Danger” successfully used sophisticated data mining techniques to tie several of the Sept. 11 hijackers to Al Qaeda more than a year before the 2001 attacks. A report by the Pentagon disputed that contention.
The searches for financial records, internal documents and computer messages took place at the home of Mr. Weldon’s daughter, Karen, and at the home of Charles P. Sexton Jr., Ms. Weldon’s business partner and a friend of the lawmaker.
A search was also conducted at the office of Solutions North America/Solutions Worldwide, a company run by Ms. Weldon and Mr. Sexton, in Media, Pa.
Another of the searches in Florida was conducted at the office of a Russian natural gas company, the Itera International Energy Corporation, which has hired Solutions North America for public relations assistance in the United States.
The precise allegations of wrongdoing that led to the inquiry of Mr. Weldon are not known at this point. Investigators are seeking to determine whether Mr. Weldon misused his official position to help his daughter’s company obtain lobbying contracts from foreign clients and helped steer contracts to favored companies, officials said.
In his comments today, Mr. Weldon said that he did not give his daughter any special assistance and that the House Ethics Committee had looked into his daughter’s contracts after they were the subject of an article in The Los Angeles Times in February 2004. Mr. Weldon said he had cooperated with the inquiry and had turned over 150 pages of documents and answered the panel’s questions.
Kate Zernike contributed reporting.
By DAVID JOHNSTON
Published: October 16, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 — Federal agents executed search warrants today at the homes of Representative Curt Weldon’s daughter and a longtime political associate in an investigation into whether Mr. Weldon, a Republican from Pennsylvania, improperly aided their efforts to obtain lobbying and public relations contracts, law enforcement officials said.
F.B.I. agents searched four homes and other locations in the vicinity of Philadelphia and two other sites near Jacksonville, Fla., as the part of the inquiry. Debbie Weierman, a spokeswoman for the bureau’s Washington office, confirmed the searches, but would not say why the locations were searched.
Mr. Weldon’s residence and his Congressional office were not among the locations that were examined, but other law enforcement officials said Mr. Weldon was the subject of a growing corruption inquiry. Affidavits citing why agents wanted to carry out the searches were sealed.
Mr. Weldon was first elected to his district on the outskirts of Philadelphia in 1984 and is vice chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He is in a close re-election race against Joseph Sestak, a Democrat who is a former three-star admiral and national security aide in the Clinton White House.
Mr. Weldon said today that the investigation was politically motivated and that the disclosure of the inquiry, in news accounts in recent days, was suspect.
““What I find ironic, if there is an investigation, is that no one would tell me until three weeks before the election,” Mr. Weldon said, according to The Associated Press.
Law enforcement officials said the investigation of Mr. Weldon had been under way for several months. The officials said authorities did not confirm the existence of the investigation or conduct the searches, until after news organizations learned of it. It is not known how McClatchy Newspapers, which first reported the inquiry on Saturday, learned of it.
Today, a spokesman for Mr. Weldon’s campaign, Pete Peterson, said he had no comment on the matter and referred calls to Mr. Weldon’s Washington office. Mr. Weldon’s campaign manager, Michael Puppio Jr., and his chief of staff in Washington, Russ Caso, did not return messages seeking comment.
Mr. Weldon has at times gotten into disagreements with the Bush administration. He maintained that a secret military unit known as “Able Danger” successfully used sophisticated data mining techniques to tie several of the Sept. 11 hijackers to Al Qaeda more than a year before the 2001 attacks. A report by the Pentagon disputed that contention.
The searches for financial records, internal documents and computer messages took place at the home of Mr. Weldon’s daughter, Karen, and at the home of Charles P. Sexton Jr., Ms. Weldon’s business partner and a friend of the lawmaker.
A search was also conducted at the office of Solutions North America/Solutions Worldwide, a company run by Ms. Weldon and Mr. Sexton, in Media, Pa.
Another of the searches in Florida was conducted at the office of a Russian natural gas company, the Itera International Energy Corporation, which has hired Solutions North America for public relations assistance in the United States.
The precise allegations of wrongdoing that led to the inquiry of Mr. Weldon are not known at this point. Investigators are seeking to determine whether Mr. Weldon misused his official position to help his daughter’s company obtain lobbying contracts from foreign clients and helped steer contracts to favored companies, officials said.
In his comments today, Mr. Weldon said that he did not give his daughter any special assistance and that the House Ethics Committee had looked into his daughter’s contracts after they were the subject of an article in The Los Angeles Times in February 2004. Mr. Weldon said he had cooperated with the inquiry and had turned over 150 pages of documents and answered the panel’s questions.
Kate Zernike contributed reporting.
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