Federal officials in NJ have sent a message that they are on the case of the closing of the Ft. Lee access lanes to the GW Bridet last September. WSJ reports (Friday news dump?): US Attorney Issues Subpoena To committee Probing George Washington Bridge Scandal
New Jersey U.S. attorney Paul Fishman has issued a subpoena to a legislative committee investigating the George Washington Bridge closures for its documents pertaining to the matter, a sign that prosecutors are continuing to delve into the issue.
The subpoena was issued by prosecutors for “any and all records” produced or obtained by the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation in the course of its work, according to a copy viewed by The Wall Street Journal.
The two-page subpoena was issued last week, and Democratic and Republican members of the committee were made aware of it Thursday night. The records are due back at the U.S. attorney’s office in Newark on May 2, the subpoena states.
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Does the subpoena suggest the Fishman and his team are closing in on issuing criminal indictments or that their investigation is stalled or hasn’t gotten very far? Too soon to tell.
The potential really big development is coming out of Manhattan. From MainJustice SEC Joins Manhattan DA to Probe Christie’s Diversion of Port Authority Funds by Lisa Brennan. To read it (and it’s definitely worth reading), use the above link.
This story goes back to Gov Chistie’s cancellation of ARC Tunnel project. (The cancellation infuriated NJ residents and US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, but apparently not enough that NJ voters and NJ and federal Democrats to replace Christie.) That left a big pot of money in the PA coffers raised from the issuance of tax exempt bonds and federal transportation funds.
Christie grabbed $1.8 billion for the NJ transportation authority to repair roads and the Pulaski Skyway – projects for which the PA is prohibited from funding. That violation (obviously illegal and criminal if the law applied to ordinary USians and not the political and well-connected high muckety-mucks at the PA that are held to a different legal standard; so, this must be referred to as “possibly fraudulent or illegal”) is the subject of the investigation by the Manhattan DA.
The SEC comes into the picture because the tax-exempt bonds were sold as “Lincoln Tunnel Access Improvements.” Thus, the PA issued tax-exempt bonds that exceeded their authority and hid that fact from investors by claiming the funds were for its maintenance of its Lincoln Tunnel assets. Not sure how the SEC can limit this one to a slap on the wrist of the perpetrators and a meaningless fine on the PA. Oops – “not PA bonds and not tax-exempt” isn’t going to fly with the bondholders.
On another note (the continuing saga of political sticky fingers dipped into NJ pension funds), David Sirota has a new piece at PandoDaily, Gov Christie’s investment chief has major financial ties to firm that got $300m in NJ pension cash.
