Former prosecutor to plea in fraud case
Ex-U.S. attorney faces 43 years for tax fraud, money laundering
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LED N.C. GOP IN '90S
Former prosecutor to plea in fraud case
Ex-U.S. attorney faces 43 years for tax fraud, money laundering
JIM MORRILL AND MELISSA MANWARE
jmorrill@charlotteobserver.commmanware@charlotteobserver.com
Sam Currin, a former U.S. attorney, judge and N.C. Republican Party chairman, faces up to 43 years in prison after agreeing to plead guilty to money laundering, tax fraud and obstruction of justice.
His plea agreement was filed Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte. No date has been set for sentencing or for Currin, a Raleigh lawyer, to formally enter his plea.
In the plea agreement, Currin admitted laundering $1.45 million in proceeds from what prosecutors called "a massive securities fraud scheme." He also pleaded guilty to obstructing a grand jury investigation and failing to disclose income from an offshore company to the Internal Revenue Service.
Currin, 57, could not be reached.
"I hope the public will recognize that Sam has had a long and distinguished career as an attorney and public servant," said his lawyer, former U.S. Attorney Mark Calloway of Charlotte. "Sam recognizes he has made a serious mistake, and he is doing what he can to make it right."
Currin was indicted in April.
According to documents filed Wednesday, a group that included one of Currin's legal clients made "tens of millions of dollars" by manipulating stock prices through spam e-mail, mass faxes and other means. Prosecutors said Currin helped launder that money through his law firm's trust accounts and pocketed more than $240,000 himself.
They also said he formed an offshore company and opened a bank account for it in Anguilla, then received thousands of dollars through the account, which he failed to disclose on a 2004 income tax return.
When Currin was subpoenaed in December to appear before a federal grand jury investigating the scheme, the court papers say, he conspired to withhold documents and give false testimony, and later perjured himself.
For Currin, it's a hard fall.
A protege of former Republican U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, he was U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina in Raleigh. He'd been at the center of controversy before.
In 1984, three years into his tenure as U.S. attorney, Helms recommended him for a federal judgeship. Critics complained about his inexperience and chided him for mailing religious Christmas cards at government expense. Others said he played politics in an undercover investigation. Currin eventually withdrew his name.
Three months later, Republican Gov. Jim Martin named him a Superior Court judge.
He was elected state party chair in 1996, but ousted in 1999 in a fight that underscored divisions in the state party. |
