SIX DEFENDANTS CHARGED IN WIDE-RANGING RACKETEERING AND EXTORTION SCHEME
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Assistant Attorney General Christopher A. Wray of the Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Gregory A. White of the Northern District of Ohio, and U.S. Attorney Michael T. Shelby of the Southern District of Texas today announced the unsealing of a 45-count indictment charging six defendants in a wide-ranging public corruption and fraud scheme, including charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering (RICO), extortion and mail and wire fraud in furtherance of the corrupt activity.
The indictment by a federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, charges: Nate Gray, 47, of Orange Village, Ohio; Joseph Jones, 36, of Cleveland, Ohio; Richard Teamor, 58, of Aurora, Ohio; Monique McGilbra, 41, of Houston, Texas; Brent Jividen, 42, of Medina, Ohio; and Gilbert Jackson, 58, of New Orleans, Louisiana with, among other things, providing numerous things of value, including money and luxury items, that were provided to public officials in return for official acts.
The charges in the indictment span multiple states and set forth in detail a wide range of corrupt activity. Specifically, the indictment charges that Nate Gray, who operated his business in a Shaker Square office; Brent Jividen, who worked in the Cleveland office of a New Jersey company that pursued public contracts; and Gilbert Jackson, who is a senior vice president of an international engineering firm, conspired to violate racketeering laws from at least the mid-1990s to the present.
It further charges that these three, along with Cleveland City Councilman Joseph Jones, Cleveland area lawyer and businessman Ricardo Teamor, and Monique McGilbra, who headed the Building Services Department for the City of Houston, Texas, committed numerous acts of extortion and deprived the public of the honest services of its public officials, using the mails and telephones to further their scheme.
Oliver Spellman, the former chief of staff to the former Mayor of Houston; Emmanuel Onunwor, the former Mayor of East Cleveland, Ohio, who was convicted this summer on 22 counts of corruption related activity; and Garland Hardeman, a former California elected official who pleaded guilty to federal charges in the Central District of California, are also discussed in the indictment as part of what is termed the "Gray enterprise."
A few examples of the extortion payments to public officials alleged and described in the indictment are:
* Numerous cash payments that Gray made to Onunwor that were the subject of Onunwor's own trial and convictions in the summer of 2004;
* A $2,000 cash payment by Gray to Spellman that was covered by Spellman's guilty plea last month;
* Two football-related trips that Gray and Jividen provided to McGilbra, including a $4,500 weekend trip to the 2002 NFL Super Bowl in New Orleans for McGilbra and her boyfriend, who were entertained by Jackson on their arrival;
* A $700 Louis Vuitton purse that McGilbra selected for herself and Gray purchased for her;
* A dinner costing nearly $1,000 that Gray purchased for McGilbra and her family in Miami Beach, Florida, as well as limousine service; and
* The $5,000 interest-free loan by Gray and Teamor to Jones that was the subject of Jones' earlier indictment and at least one other payment.
http://www.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel05/011805a.htm
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