FBI investigating actions of Specter staff member
2006-10-11
Source: USA Today
email this
print this
del.icio.us
digg this
rss feedThe FBI is investigating whether a member of Sen. Arlen Specter's staff broke the law by helping her husband, a lobbyist, secure almost $50 million in Pentagon spending for his clients, the senator acknowledged Tuesday.
In an Aug. 21 letter, FBI official Joseph Persichini Jr. told Specter, R-Pa., that the bureau is investigating "allegations of possible criminal misconduct" by staff member Vicki Siegel Herson. Persichini also asked for a copy of a report summarizing the results of an investigation of Siegel and other Specter employees with relatives who are lobbyists. Specter's former chief of staff, William Reynolds, carried out the investigation.
Specter provided a copy of the FBI letter to USA TODAY and said his staff gave the FBI the report last month.
The federal probe stems from a February report by USA TODAY about Siegel. Specter helped direct $48.7 million in Pentagon spending over the past five years to clients of her lobbyist husband, Michael Herson.
Specter has acknowledged he used his position on the Senate Appropriations Committee to put special-interest language in Pentagon spending bills directing the money to clients of Herson's firm, American Defense International.
Specter says he didn't know of the link to Siegel, who was one of his top advisers on spending issues until last fall.
Click here to see the full article.
