The Tallahassee, Florida City Commissioner Scott Charles Maddox, 50, and Tallahassee political consultant Janice Paige Carter-Smith, 53, both of Tallahassee, have been indicted in a 44-count indictment for conspiring to operate a racketeering enterprise that engaged in acts of bank fraud, extortion, honest services fraud and bribery.<\/p>\n
Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department\u2019s Criminal Division, Attorney for the United States, Acting Under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. \u00a7 515 Karen Rhew-Miller for the Northern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Charles Spencer of the FBI\u2019s Jacksonville Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Mary Hammond of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.<\/p>\n
Maddox and Carter-Smith are also charged with substantive counts of bank fraud, false statements to financial institutions, extortion, honest services fraud, the use of interstate facilities in furtherance of bribery, false statements to federal officers, conspiracy to interfere with the lawful function of the IRS, and filing false tax returns. The initial appearance is scheduled for today, Dec. 12, at 3:00 p.m. EST at the U.S. Courthouse in Tallahassee in the Magistrate Judge\u2019s Courtroom on the main floor. The trial date will be determined at this hearing.<\/p>\n
Maddox and Carter-Smith allegedly conspired to operate two companies, Governance Inc., and Governance Services LLC, as one entity they referred to as \u201cGovernance.\u201d Per the indictment, Governance was part of a racketeering enterprise that extorted money and accepted bribes from Governance clients under color of Maddox\u2019s office and through fear of the economic harm that Maddox could inflict in his position as an influential City Commissioner. The indictment alleges that Maddox voted on matters and exerted influence on City employees to take actions that benefitted the businesses that paid Maddox and Carter-Smith through Governance.<\/p>\n
According to the charges, Maddox and Carter-Smith made false statements to the FBI concerning Maddox\u2019s affiliation with, and management of Governance and Governance Services. The indictment alleges that during the course of the conspiracy, Maddox made false statements under oath to a Florida Commission on Ethics investigator and in a sworn deposition about his affiliation with Governance. He also concealed from the Tallahassee City Attorney and the City Commission the fact that he was being paid by companies doing business with the City.<\/p>\n
The indictment further alleges that Maddox and Carter-Smith also defrauded a bank of more than $250,000 through two fraudulent short sales of real property, lied to federal agents about Governance and other matters, and violated federal tax laws by conspiring to interfere with the IRS and filing false tax returns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Tallahassee, Florida City Commissioner Scott Charles Maddox, 50, and Tallahassee political consultant Janice Paige Carter-Smith, 53, both of Tallahassee, have been indicted in a 44-count indictment for conspiring to operate a racketeering enterprise that engaged in acts of bank fraud, extortion, honest services fraud and bribery. Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5409,"featured_media":73130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[1,54,37],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n