Posted on 08/03/2007 12:39:45 PM PDT by SmithL
MEMPHIS — Federal prosecutors are trying to keep a diamond-studded Rolex wristwatch seized from former Sen. John Ford before he was convicted of bribery in the Tennessee Waltz corruption investigation.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a complaint filed Tuesday in federal court that Ford got the watch valued at $70,000 from a Memphis developer through bribery and it should be forfeited to the government.
The Rolex “constitutes or is derived from proceeds of an offense constituting ’specified unlawful activity’ ... or a conspiracy to commit such an offense, specifically bribery,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher E. Cotten wrote in the complaint.
Ford’s attorney, Michael Scholl, declined a request for comment from WMC-TV.
The watch, which Scholl has said Ford got legally by swapping timepieces with developer Rusty Hyneman, wasn’t directly related to Tennessee Waltz.
But prosecutors presented during Ford’s trial some recordings from the Waltz investigation of the then-lawmaker bragging to an undercover agent that he got the watch for helping Hyneman avoid paying state fines for pollution at a Memphis subdivision.
Hyneman hasn’t been charged in the case and refused to testify about the watch during a pretrial hearing.
Ford has roughly 50 days to contest the government’s claim to the watch.
Ford was convicted of taking $55,000 in bribes from undercover agents to help an FBI front company called E-Cycle Management change state law for a business advantage.
His sentencing is set for Aug 27. The bribery conviction carries a maximum of 10 years behind bars, but federal sentencing guidelines will call for a much shorter prison term for a first-time offender like Ford.
Ford also is charged in an unrelated investigation in Nashville with illegally taking more than $800,000 in consultant payments from contractors with the state’s TennCare health program.
I despise forfeiture laws, but in this one case, it actually makes sense.
Does he have any gold teeth?..........or BLING?.....
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
A friend of mine got lugged in Somerville MA. When they let him go the next morning, his jewelry valued at $200,000 was missing from the manila envelope. The city claimed “sovereign immunity”.
mmm, Whats lugged? He got screwed to a rim?
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Lugged is a term for arrested.
ML/NJ
Wow john, nice watch you got there? Is that genuine faux plastic? Wow, I’ve been hankering for one of those...trade ya straight up for this junky ole Rolex. Now John, I’ve got this development idea I’d like you to look over...
Oh, never heard that one before.
Let him keep the watch. After this story gets out just send him home to Memphis. Things will work out just fine. He should last about one day wearing a seventy thousand dollar watch in his home neighborhood.
Sell it to pay for the prosecution and investigation of this corrupt man.
I must be of a different stock... To me a watch is a time piece not jewelry. I had a cheap-o $11 Walmart watch that kept perfect time for just under 13 years. I have since switched to a $20 Timex. It keeps perfect time also. I hope I keep it as long.
Exactly what I was going to say.
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