CORPORATE CRIME REPORTER
Moschella
Says DiBiagio Wanted to Bring Corruption Charges Before Election
21 Corporate Crime Reporter 11, March 6, 2007
A top Justice Department official told a Congressional panel today that the
former U.S. Attorney in Maryland – Thomas M. DiBiagio – wanted to
bring major public corruption prosecutions "within a specific time frame."
DiBiagio told the New York Times that he was forced out in early 2005 because of political pressure stemming from public corruption investigations involving associates of the state’s governor, Robert Ehrlich – a Republican.
“There was direct pressure not to pursue these investigations,” DiBiagio told the Times. “The practical impact was to intimidate my office and shut down the investigations.”
But William Moschella – an assistant deputy attorney general – told a House Judiciary Committee subcommittee that after the Times ran the article this morning, he spoke with the Justice Department’s ethics official, David Margolis.
Moschella said that Margolis’ investigation of the situation found that “there were inappropriate e-mails and a staff meeting initiated by Mr. DiBiagio in which he specifically called for public corruption cases within a specific time frame indicating he wanted to bring some prior to the election.”
“This was so egregious that the Deputy Attorney General at the time – Jim Comey – had to write him a letter saying – you will not bring any public corruption cases without running it by me first,” Moschella said.
The Times reported that DiBiagio’s office had been looking into whether associates of then Governor Ehrlich “had improperly funneled money from gambling interests to promote legalized slot machines in Maryland.”
DiBiagio told the Times that several prominent Maryland Republicans had pressed him to back away from the inquiries.
DiBiagio also told the Times that the Justice Department had offered little support and that that made it “impossible for me to stay.”
But Moschella told the subcommittee today that DiBiagio’s removal “had nothing to do with any public corruption case.”
“I want to make this clear – after this outrageous conduct occurred, David Margolis commissioned a specific review of him in which the evaluators found that the office was in disarray, poorly managed, had extremely poor morale,” Moschella said. “This is well known.”
Margolis told the Times that DiBiagio’s harsh management style had caused resentments in the office that ran “wide and deep” and called “an absolute fairy tale” the idea that DiBiagio’s departure was tied to the gambling case or any other investigation.
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