A spokesperson for the FBI mentioned the company can’t verify or deny the existence of an investigation.
By Steve Vockrodt and Jason Hancock, Missouri Impartial
Federal legislation enforcement was nonetheless searching for info as just lately as final summer season about medical marijuana licensing in Missouri and utility contracts in Independence which have attracted FBI scrutiny for years.
That’s in line with sworn deposition testimony from a Kansas Metropolis-area businessman that surfaced publicly final week.
The deposition of Joseph Campbell, proprietor of the actual property growth agency Titan Fish, was performed in November as a part of an ongoing defamation lawsuit he and his firm filed in 2020 towards the Metropolis of Independence and two metropolis council members. Excerpts of the deposition grew to become public final week after they have been filed in Jackson County Circuit Courtroom by Independence’s attorneys.
Campbell testified that brokers from the FBI, Inner Income Service and the Justice Division’s public integrity unit interviewed him on July 13, 2021.
The questions, in line with Campbell’s testimony, targeted on his involvement with a pair of utility contracts in Independence and medical marijuana licensing in Missouri—the most recent indication {that a} doubtlessly wide-ranging public corruption probe could also be ongoing.
Campbell in his deposition indicated the FBI wished to speak to him additional, however hadn’t as of the time he gave his testimony.
In the course of the deposition, Campbell mentioned that as a part of his July interview he was requested by federal brokers about a number of individuals concerned in state and native politics, together with:
- Independence Mayor Eileen Weir
- former Independence council members Curt Dougherty and Tom Van Camp
- Independence Metropolis Supervisor Zach Walker
- Missouri lobbyist Steve Tilley
- former Missouri Home Speaker John Diehl
Campbell additionally testified that Gov. Mike Parson’s (R) title got here up throughout the interview. However the deposition transcript that was filed final week in Jackson County Circuit Courtroom doesn’t include Campbell’s full testimony—solely 27 pages of at the least 180 pages have been included—and doesn’t go additional into why among the names like Parson and others have been mentioned.
Campbell’s legal professional filed a movement to suppress the doc two days after it appeared within the public file, arguing that it mustn’t have been filed as a result of the deposition isn’t but full. Campbell didn’t return requests for an interview and his legal professional, Mark McFarland, declined to debate the matter.
Neither Campbell nor any of the individuals he was requested about throughout his interview final summer season have been charged with any wrongdoing in regard to Independence or Missouri political affairs. Campbell mentioned repeatedly throughout his deposition that his solely involvement within the FBI’s Independence probe is as a witness.
A spokesperson for the FBI mentioned the company can’t verify or deny the existence of an investigation.
The data present a contemporary glimpse into an FBI probe that’s transfixed state and native politics ever since information of it surfaced in 2019.
Independence offers
In 2017, Campbell purchased the previous Rockwood Golf Course in Independence from an organization that had owned it for a number of years. Months later, the Independence Metropolis Council voted to purchase the golf course from his actual property firm, Titan Fish, for nearly $1 million, near twice what he paid to purchase the property. The land was used to construct a photo voltaic farm.
The deal drew scrutiny over a collection of donations to Weir days earlier than she voted with nearly all of council members to approve the acquisition. The donations got here from 4 political motion committees linked to Tilley, a former state lawmaker and longtime buddy and adviser to the governor.
Tilley’s lobbying agency represents Independence’s electrical utility and the corporate chosen to function the photo voltaic farm.
Weir has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the donations.
Campbell’s testimony reveals he’s additionally linked to the opposite Independence utility contract from 2017 that has acquired FBI scrutiny: The demolition of the facility plant in Missouri Metropolis owned by Independence Energy & Mild.
The Independence Metropolis Council awarded a St. Louis agency known as Environmental Operations Inc. a $10 million contract to tear down the plant, despite the fact that one other bidder provided to do the job for lower than half that quantity.
A majority of the Independence Metropolis Council authorized the contract regardless of opposition from some council members and a board that advises the city-owned utility.
Campbell testified that he was concerned within the Missouri Metropolis energy plant deal by means of a consulting contract he had with Environmental Operations. He testified that the land upon which the facility plant stood would change into “very useful” given its proximity to a port alongside the Missouri River.
Campbell testified that he was initially alleged to obtain half of the Missouri Metropolis property as soon as it was repurposed. However Environmental Operations officers later informed him that the agency needed to personal your complete web site due to an indemnification settlement with Independence. So as a substitute, Campbell testified that he would get a 11.3 p.c minimize of the contract.
In 2020, the Kansas Metropolis Star reported that a federal grand jury had issued subpoenas to Independence to acquire a variety of data associated to the 2 utility offers, together with minutes to non-public conferences held by the Independence Metropolis Council the place the transactions have been mentioned.
Legal professional-client privilege?
Campbell’s testimony additionally discusses Diehl, who resigned as Missouri Home Speaker in 2015 after it was revealed he had been sending inappropriate textual content messages to a legislative intern. Campbell mentioned Diehl, who grew to become Environmental Operations’ basic counsel following his resignation, requested if Campbell would declare that the 2 had an attorney-client relationship.
Campbell testified that he understood Diehl had requested about forming such an association so as to maintain from having at hand over sure paperwork the federal government had requested by means of a subpoena.
Campbell testified Diehl had by no means represented him in a authorized capability.
A request for remark to Diehl was forwarded to J.R. Hobbs of Kansas Metropolis legislation agency Wyrsch, Hobbs & Mirakian. He denied Campbell’s assertions.
“Our agency has represented [Environmental Operations Inc.] in reference to the inquiry, together with doc manufacturing and subpoena requests, and there’s no accuracy to any assertion that Mr. Diehl ever suggested anybody to say privilege if it didn’t apply,” Hobbs mentioned, including later: “Mr. Diehl denies any doable assertion that he prolonged attorney-client privilege at any time.”
Medical marijuana
Campbell’s testimony additionally reveals that he was serving to finance an organization known as Natural Well being that utilized for licenses to domesticate and promote medical marijuana. He mentioned that he was requested about marijuana licensing throughout the July 2021 interview with federal legislation enforcement.
Tilley was registered as Natural Well being’s lobbyist from January 2019 to November 2020, and has quite a few purchasers within the medical marijuana business. He didn’t reply to a request for remark.
In November 2020, the pinnacle of Missouri’s medical marijuana program testified beneath oath {that a} federal grand jury subpoena his company acquired was connected to an FBI investigation in Independence.
Missouri’s medical marijuana regulators acquired two further federal grand jury subpoenas final 12 months, with every redacted earlier than being turned over to the media on the request of the federal authorities to obfuscate the data being sought by legislation enforcement.
It was not lengthy after studies first surfaced of the FBI’s curiosity within the Independence utility offers that Titan Fish led a consortium that submitted a proposal to accumulate and refashion Independence Energy & Mild’s soon-to-be-shuttered Blue Valley Energy Plant.
Tilley was listed in Titan Fish’s Blue Valley proposal.
A Kansas Metropolis Star report in March 2020 quoted two Independence metropolis council members who expressed reservations about doing enterprise with anybody who could be topic to an FBI investigation.
Campbell in 2020 sued Independence and the 2 council members, saying their feedback defamed him.
Campbell’s lawsuit is ongoing, although he tried to settle with town if the council handed over the shuttered Blue Valley energy plant to Titan Fish, granted tax abatement and leased again parts of the facility plant land, in line with an article earlier this month within the Kansas Metropolis Star.
Weir testified in a deposition within the case. Weeks later, her legal professional satisfied a choose to seal her deposition after studying that an unidentified third get together tried to acquire it. On Monday, The Kansas Metropolis Star filed a movement asking a Jackson County choose to unseal Weir’s deposition, arguing that her testimony is a matter of public significance and that sealing it violated the First Modification.
Weir is operating for a 3rd time period as mayor and faces a crowded main election subsequent month.
In an unrelated matter, the IRS seized two automobiles belonging to Campbell on Could 20 and signaled that it could seize a lake home in Morgan County, Missouri, which additionally belongs to Campbell. An affidavit written by an IRS agent in help of the seizures alleges that Campbell, by means of his numerous companies, fraudulently obtained authorities COVID-19 reduction funds and that these funds have been used to purchase the automobiles and the lake home.
This story was first published by Missouri Independent.
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Picture courtesy of Mike Latimer.
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