[ad_1]
Federal prosecutors told a U.S. magistrate on Monday that in the course of a criminal investigation into the former head of the Jacksonville Municipal Electric Power Company JEA, he and FBI agents accused former Florida Power & Light CEO Eric He said he had interviewed Mr. Shirazi and sent the following documents to FPL’s parent company. NextEra, subpoena.
FPL was not accused of wrongdoing in the case, but its shadow has loomed over the JEA since it sought to buy City Hall in a $11 billion bid in 2019. Federal prosecutors appear to have mentioned Siraj in an indictment brought against JEA’s former CEO and CFO last year on grand jury conspiracy and wire fraud charges: JEA chief executive There is mention of a heretofore unknown meeting, which was revealed to an anonymous head of power. Information that city officials were on the verge of soliciting offers to take the West Palm Beach company private was at the time JEA leaders were trying hard to keep it from the public.
FPL has not disclosed whether it is an unknown company. In an interview last year at the Times-Union’s downtown offices, Mr. Shirazi admitted that the indictment may refer to him, but said his company had not sought subpoenas from federal prosecutors. It vehemently denied having received it and criticized past Times Union reports in which federal prosecutors cited such references. Documents from past court proceedings. He called the report “false.”
“We worked with the FBI, volunteered, and we’ve said it repeatedly,” Shirazi said. “And we have never been investigated by them, and we have repeatedly told you, and we have never been served a subpoena. And we has repeatedly told you that, and yet you wrote an article saying you were in fact subpoenaed,” sent to NextEra employees. “
On Monday, A. Taisen Duba, the lead prosecutor in the JEA case, showed the court a copy of the April 21, 2020 subpoena sent to NextEra. The document was also projected on a projection screen and was visible to everyone present at the court.
Duva also revealed that he met with Shirazi “at a later date” with at least one FBI agent, Robert Bryce, but did not give details of the meeting or what the subpoena required of the company. rice field. Duva said he would ask Ms Bryce more about the subpoena later in the hearing, which is expected to last several days.
Monday was the first day of a procedure called the Castigal hearings. The legal process would have to convince the magistrate that the evidence prosecutors gathered to indict former JEA CEO Aaron Zahn and CFO Ryan Wanemucker did not rely on their statements. not. The men took oaths during workplace investigations in late 2019 and early 2020 and were granted immunity for their statements. Mr. Zahn and Mr. Vannemacher are accused of plotting to make themselves rich by skimming profits from the sale of the JEA, a project that collapsed in the midst of a scandal and wasted his tenure at City Hall.
The hearing requires the government to show that there were independent grounds for pursuing leads in the investigation beyond the vaccination testimony that Zahn and Wannemacher provided to city attorneys. To that end, the lead prosecutor, Duva, said he plans to look deeply into how the government developed the case and gathered evidence.
As part of Tuesday’s presentation, Duva had FBI agent Bryce explain in court the origins of the JEA’s investigation and the eventual developments in the case that ultimately brought it to a grand jury. Bryce said investigators encountered rumors and allegations that FPL’s parent company, NextEra, was “fixed” to be the winning bidder during the course of the investigation, but he did not respond to those allegations. did not disclose its opinion. Bryce also said that NextEra’s bid ($11 billion) was much higher than its competitors, which drew attention. “The JEA was more valuable to them than anyone else,” he says.
Mr. Shiraghi left FPL abruptly last year in what the company called a retirement. Shortly after the announcement, NextEra executives told a grumpy analyst that Silagi’s exit agreement included a “reversal of compensation” if “some legal misconduct” was discovered.
In 2021-2022, FPL made headlines in controversies across Florida, including its efforts to acquire the JEA. During the bidding process, consulting firms working with FPL also deployed more covert tactics to pave the way for the company’s bid. Rounding up the idea of offering Jacksonville City Council members six-figure jobs with bogus nonprofits to monitor journalists.
During a Times Union interview about these controversies last summer, before resigning, Mr Shirazy said the company had done nothing wrong, as the newspaper had reported months earlier based on Duva’s comments. claimed to have received no subpoena. he said at an earlier court hearing.
“I never saw the record because prosecutors said they didn’t know where it came from because we called. We called the FBI. And they said, “I have no idea where it came from, because we’ve never seen it.” said. ‘I mean, it’s on the record…’ Mr Shiraghi told reporters who were interviewing him.
“But let me tell you, I wish it was actually verified, because it’s in print now. And it’s false.”
At a hearing on Monday, Duva and Bryce said an investigation into the JEA’s privatization controversy began in earnest in late December 2019 as the bidding process was falling apart. Over the next few months, they unearthed public records and recordings of past board meetings and interviewed witnesses. Some of the evidence they were interested in dates back to 2017 and 2018, when Zahn was hired as interim director.
Bryce said the hiring process was also marked by allegations of fraud. FBI agents said federal agents wanted to know more about the matter and in the process interviewed Brian Hughes, the chief administrative officer of Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry, about hiring. rice field. This is the first time that the government has disclosed that it has interviewed high-ranking officials of the city hall. during their investigation. Zahn is widely seen as backed by Curry’s office, the chief executive whose board of directors appointed by the mayor promoted Zahn over other applicants who were far more experienced in the public works industry. became a reason.
Hearings will continue throughout the week.
Nate Monroe is a columnist for The Metro and publishes regularly every Thursday and Sunday. follow him on twitter @NateMonroeTU.
[ad_2]
Source link
