And Fina didn't think she would prosecute, even before she ever learned of the existence of the investigation. Otherwise, why would he turn over files to an FBI agent at the very moment Kane was being sworn in?
He did this, he says, because he was "concerned about a conflict of interest." Fina's previous boss, Linda Kelly - who actually knew about it - had declined to pursue the case.
Fina didn't believe Kane would prosecute. Before she took office. Yet he signed an extraordinary agreement with confidential informant Tyron B. Ali - dismissing all 2,000+ charges of fraud - on November 30, 2012. That's 24 days after Kane, whom he believed would not prosecute, was elected.
An extraordinary deal. Dismissal of more than 2,000 charges of fraud. In exchange for testimony a case that Fina believed would not be pursued. In a case his previous boss had declined to pursue.
It's looking more and more as though the case was, as editorial boards have speculated, "a 'welcome present' designed to blow up in her face."
18 comments:
Make no mistake--it was a time bomb. What that misogynist failed to consider was that he's playing checkers and the New Guard is playing 3-D Chess.
Standby.
Ali was going to go public to blow up Fina’s keystone kops tactics and details of the reckless investigation. Fina was using Ali to wear a wire but he also was using unauthorized and illegal wiretaps to record many other public officials’ telephone conversations without any probable cause or court approval. Fina paid off Ali with taxpayer’s funds and gave him the deal of the century to keep all the dirty laundry in the closet. Doesn’t anyone else find it interesting that Ali refuses to talk to anyone, it doesn’t make sense, he can’t be charged with the crimes Fina agreed to drop, so why not talk and provide clarity to the public. If Ali has any remorse for stealing a half a million dollars from poor children and the elderly he should come clean and tell the public the truth about how he was handled by Fina.
sweet shades, bro
Regarding the resolution of the Philly Sting, what is Judge Hoover still withholding from the public?
Also, Corbett started this before the 2010 election for Governor. If he had lost, he would have prosecuted people with reckless abandon during his final two years as AG with Fina.
Was This the Philly Sting or the Kane Sting? Fina should be held accountable for all of his illegal activities.
Is Fina telling the truth when he says that in November 2012 he feared that Kane would stop his undercover operation in order to protect her campaign supporters? Remember that in November 2012 the public (including Kane) had no way of knowing about Ali's straw donations to the McCaffery campaign that occurred in early 2009 - almost 4 years earlier. Fina never prosecuted Ali for the straw donor campaign finance violation - after almost 4 years. Fina also never prosecuted Josh Morrow and/or Dan McCaffery for accepting and not reporting Ali's alleged cash payment of $9,000 - after almost 4 years. Fina's claim that in November 2012 he was worried about a Kane conflict of interest is contingent on these conditions: (1) Ali actually paid Morrow $9,000 in cash and (2) Kane knew that Ali gave the cash to Morrow. If this $9000 is just another lie that Ali has invented to advance his own interests, then there is no conflict of interest for Kane. And if Kane had no knowledge in November 2012 that Morrow had taken cash from Ali, there likewise would be no conflict of interest - your public duties can't be compromised by a personal interest that you don't know exists and which you have no way of knowing exists. We, the public, know about the accusation of a crime that occurred in early 2009 only because Ali included the accusation in a pleading that his lawyer filed late in 2013. That pleading was kept in a sealed court file and its key accusation did not become known to the public until March 16, 2014. There is no evidence that Kane could have known about this accusation any earlier than the date on which it was filed under court seal in 2013. In fact, there is no evidence that Fina knew about this accusation until it surfaced in 2013. And let us recall why Ali made the accusation: Ali was forcing Kane to ratify the deal of the century that Fina cut with Ali. Ali was telling the court "Kane isn't treating me fairly because she is trying to protect her political friends who accepted $9000 in cash from me." Isn't it convenient that Ali came up with this allegation at just the moment that he needed to finalize Fina's deal of the century? And by the way, aside from the bare accusation of a proven con man and liar, where is the evidence of this alleged cash payment? Frank Fina and Seth Williams appear to be the only persons who actually believe Ali's accusation and of course they need to believe it in order to justify their claim of a conflict of interest. It is unfortunate that their professed belief is not supported by an actual prosecution of a crime. I repeat - you can't be conflicted by an interest that you don't know exists. And another thing: assuming that the accusation is true, if Fina and prosecuted Morrow/McCaffery for the crime in 2009, 2010, 2011 or even 2012 then Kane would have had no conflict of interest with the Ali deal of the century or the Philly 5 undercover sting because Kane's friends would have already been on their way to jail. So this conflict of interest, if it really existed, is a product of Fina's neglect and procrastination. The bottom line is this: Frank Fina is lying when he says that his conduct in November 2012 was motivated by concern about a Kane conflict of interest. He is backfilling an excuse with information that he did not know and had no way of knowing until 2013. It is probably one of the most obvious lies that Fina has told so far.
If ya all remember Fina was doing the Sandusky case at the same time this sting operation was being fumbled and the eyes of the world were fixed on State College Pennsylvania. Under the pressure of the national media, Corbett and Fina couldn’t afford a guy like Ali going public and undermining their credibility before they finished Sandusky. For sure the national media would have called Corbett and Fina to the carpet for using the OAG for their own personal and political gain unlike the lazy writers here in PA. Just look at the girl who broke the Sandusky story, it took a writer from the PSU school newspaper because all the “professional writers” were scared and lazy.
All the talk around Hbg when Kane got elected was that Corbett was going to appoint Fina to a vacant judge seat ... I wonder why that never happened?
Thank you so much for the posting regarding "Finagate."
It sounds like Judge Hoover is protecting his friend Frank Fina. Hoover protected him regarding Fina's team destroying witness and proffer notes in the Steve Stetler Trial. Hoover is also trying to protect him in the PSU administrators' case.
Remember the old state slogan, "You've got a friend in Pennsylvania."
Some members of the PA Judiciary have dirt on their hands. Hoover is not the only judge with Handi- wipes in his courtroom Bench drawer.
http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/02/12/chuck-peruto-calls-d-a-seth-williams-fat-prick-facebook/
http://friendsofsethwilliams.com/content/state-representative-ron-waters-9th-annual-seniors-fish-fry-sw-philadelphia#3
How was the fish, RUFUS?
Sara Ganim didn't break anything that wasn't leaked to her by those in the AG's office. The Patriot News ran a propaganda campaign for Tom Corbett that made sure the public didn't find out what was going on with his friends at The Second Mile.
It is all starting to unravel, and the Investigators, Judges, and OAG Employees will start to crack one by one and the truth will come out.
No one can save Corbett and it is dawning on Corbett's backers that Corbett cannot save himself.
The time to cut and run has passed, now it will bring down some Prosecutors, Judges and Investigators.
You forgot one ... it will bring down a Governor!
Interestingly enough, according to urbandictionary.com, "fina" means you are going to do something. Like "I am fina prosecuting Jerry Sandusky" or "I am fina prosecuting 5 Philly politicians who are recorded on tape taking money." So it means that you are going to do it, but you haven't actually gotten around to doing it. When you eventually get around to doing it, it is no longer fina. Funny.
Signor Ferrari,
Fina perfected his art of "conviction at all cost" by abusing the law in the "Bonusgate," "Computergate," Ramaley, Deweese, Stetler, Sandusky and Philly Sting cases.
AG Kane is now required to defend Fina in court as a result of his abuse in the previously mentioned cases. At the same time, Kane is reviewing the Corbett/Fina conduct in the Sandusky investigation.
It appears that children were abused by Sandusky as Corbett collected campaign dollars from friends of The Second Mile.
We must not forget Fina's actions PRIOR to the Sandusky debacle. Fina has left a tsunami of legal abuse along the way.
The state Supreme Court needs to step up to the plate as the appeals come forward and base their decisions on the law.
The stakes are very high for the key players now.
So you have Corbett's Attack Dog sending off the file in the Philly bribe case on his own?
Fina was claiming Kane has a conflict before he ever speaks to her about it, and can anyone think that shows Kane is corrupt and political?
Fina is losing his mind about getting his hard drive seized after Kane finds out about what he did, and that shows SHE is corrupt and political?
So, guardian-of-the-public-good Fina ship the Philly bribe file off to the feds, and now they are indicting the Philly lawmakers? What? No? They see a problem with the case, too? Really?
Fina's new boss blows off about the case, yet he will not file it either, and that shows Kane is corrupt and political? Wow.
In Pennsylvania's Grand Jury the prosecutor TOTALLY controls every piece of evidence.
The Grand Jury gets to know about and can completely shape to their own liking any report made by the Grand Jury.
They have the fake cover of the Grand Jury process when the police complain.
So, for example, if you do not want an investigation of Corbett's friends on the TSM board, you won't get one.
No CYS investigation? No worries!
Pending gubernatorial election makes it icky to publicly screw PSU? No problem! We'll dance our Grand Jury right past it!
Perhaps Fina could sit down with the parents of the kids whose abuse continues into 2009 and explain that to them.
I am sure they would be touched by Fina's acumen.
The presumption that the same cops who investigated Jerry Sandusky could not have investigated him while things were still going on is foolish.
There would have been more victims come forward as soon as he was charged.
We'll find we don't need to be too concerned about how well Kane comes out of this. She'll be the one who doesn't have to do a perp walk.
The people trying to cast her in a bad light are looking at a future of perp walks and jail time.
That's just the way it is.
Occam's Razor, actually: It is the most likely way that this is going to go.
I can't help but once again note how EASILY we move between TWO separate and unequal standards of action and responsibility - one by a How Corbett-Fina Went After One Group Of Selected Political Foes Of Corbett- and one by, Misuse of Grand Juries of Commonwealth of Political Supporters, Campaign Contributors, and Friends in the Senate exempted from the investigations resources.
With House, "...it is reasonable to assume..." House Officials "...must have known..."allow Campiagn Laws to be broken as hidden crimes because of people that worked for them did not hand in their Comp Time slips and given immunity, lied under oath, and allowed to work to this very day one and no senate Staffers called before any Grand Juries and allowed to change the Computer Programs, YEARS LATER these investigators began HANDED TO THEM ON A PLATTER and what's "proper" and response"...a pattern which isn't obvious when there is one data point..."!
TWO SEPARATE - unequal and illegal viewpoints and yet AMAZINGLY - they are the "story" the public believes and the story that continues to keep the abuse of PA's legal investigations and protection of PA politically connected "elites") safe from punishment especially those close to Corbett.
This entire "Scandal" is based on this illusion that anything the House has absolute and immediate legal and "moral" responsibility for a EMPLOYEES - even after 10+ years - based on BIAS, MALICIOUS, SELECTIVE, DESTROYED NOTES INVESTIGATIONS - while everyone else SENATE EMPLOYEES, CORBETT CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTORS has no responsibility at all. Am I missing something here????
This HAS TO BE THE BEST geometric proof that this "CORBETT”S LAPDOG’S FINA POLITICAL GRAND JURIES INVESTIGATIONS CULTURE HAVE BEEN CORRUPT FROM THE START with Media reporting the wrong story" starts with a negative outcome and then backfills with justification based on "Illusion facts" needed for the story tellers to achieve their illusion goal. AMAZING!!
If you accept the fact that both Corbett and Fina are motivated by politics and power, not the law, then you will understand their actions.
In 2007, the House Democrat caucus Bonusgate story broke. Corbett was AG and Fina was one of his prosecutors. Corbett was in his first term as AG and preparing to run for Governor.
The state House of Representatives was controlled by the Democrats. Corbett was handed the Bonusgate case on a silver platter. His goal became, depose the Democrat majority and replace it with a favorable Republican majority.
At that time, the state Senate was controlled by a solid Republican majority and Corbett was not going to risk losing the majority. His primary attention was on flipping the Democrat controlled House.
He announced his investigation was examining all four caucuses of the General Assembly so as to satisfy the media.
As the media pressure mounted for bipartisan indictments, Corbett and Fina attacked former Speaker John Perzel, (R) Philadelphia, who carried the weight of the late- night pay raise for his members. Attacking Perzel and his staff was a popular emotional issue that provided Corbett with much free press.
The rest is history, Corbett was elected Governor in 2010 and the voters rewarded him with a Republican controlled Senate and House.
As Paul Harvey always said, "And now you know the rest of the story."
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