Arizona Congressman Is Indicted

Associated Press
February 22, 2008 11:37 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Republican Rep. Rick Renzi was indicted Friday on charges of extortion, wire fraud, money laundering and other matters in an Arizona land swap scam that allegedly helped him collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in payoffs.

A 26-page federal indictment unsealed in Arizona accuses Mr. Renzi and two former business partners of conspiring to promote the sale of land that buyers could swap for property owned by the federal government. The sale netted one of Mr. Renzi's former partners $4.5 million. The Wall Street Journal reported on the land deals last April.


As part of the alleged scam, Mr. Renzi and his former business partner, James W. Sandlin, concealed at least $733,000 that the congressman took for helping seal the land deals, according to the indictment. "Renzi was having financial difficulty throughout 2005 and needed a substantial infusion of funds to keep his insurance business solvent and to maintain his personal lifestyle," the indictment says.

The indictment accuses Mr. Renzi of using his position as a member of the House Natural Resources Committee to push the land swaps for Mr. Sandlin, who was also charged. It comes after a lengthy federal investigation into the land development and insurance businesses owned by Mr. Renzi's family.

The lengthy legal document says Mr. Renzi refused in 2005 and 2006 to secure congressional approval for land swaps by two unnamed businesses if they did not agree to buy Mr. Sandlin's property as a part of the deal. Mr. Renzi had previously owned some of Mr. Sandlin's property, the indictment says.

In early 2005, one of the businesses seeking surface rights for a copper mining project in Mr. Renzi's district failed to buy Mr. Sandlin's land. As a result, the indictment says, Mr. Renzi allegedly told the business, "No Sandlin property, no bill."

At the time, Mr. Sandlin owed Mr. Renzi $700,000 out of the land's selling price of $800,000. Mr. Renzi also allegedly concealed his business relationship with Mr. Sandlin, even though company had expressly asked if there was one.

In addition, Mr. Sandlin paid Mr. Renzi $733,000 for his help in securing the land swap from the second business. Mr. Renzi failed to report the income on financial disclosure reports to Congress, as is required, the indictment says.



http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1203693 ... malertNEWS