Staff Blog
Associates, staffers of Councilman Jack Kelly’s office indicted
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Though we've known the FBI was on their trail for some time, Councilman Jack Kelly's chief of staff, campaign treasurer, and two developers were indicted today in an "honest services fraud conspiracy" — essentially, corruption — according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
From the release:
Acting United States Attorney Laurie Magid and Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI Janice Fedarcyk today announced the filing of an indictment1 charging Christopher Wright, chief of staff to a Philadelphia city council member, real estate developers Hardeep Chawla and Ravinder S. Chawla, and their attorney, Andrew Teitelman, in an honest services fraud conspiracy. The indictment alleges that from June 2005 to January 2008, Wright used his official position with city council to give special treatment to the developers and Teitelman in exchange for approximately $16,000 in cash and other gifts, including a free apartment in Philadelphia’s prestigious Rittenhouse Square area and a free parking space. Wright also received free legal services from Teitelman. According to the indictment, in an e-mail dated November 2006, Ravinder Chawla offered to retain Wright as “Our Consultant.” In March 2007, Wright sent an e-mail about a real estate project to Ravinder Chawla and signed it, “Your Public Servant.”
Read the rest of the release here.
We'll post the indictment text soon.
For more coverage of the indictment, click here, here, or here.
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