Chris Christie: Multi-Million  Bribes to Defer Prosecution

N.J. GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie’s corruption includes multi-million dollar bribes and deferred prosecution agreements

New Jersey GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie approved seven deferred prosecution agreements while U.S. Attorney for New Jersey.

AP Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft testifies in 2008 during a hearing before the Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law of the House Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Ashcroft was scheduled to testify on a multi-million-dollar contract which was awarded to his lobbying firm by the Justice Department to monitor a settlement between an Indiana medical equipment company and a prosecutor.

Here is a synopsis of the deals, which critics have questioned and Christie will testify about today in Washington:

• John Ashcroft: Christie’s former U.S. Justice Department boss made $28 million to $52 million or more in 18 months for monitoring Zimmer Holdings, one of five medical device manufacturers accused of giving kickbacks to surgeons for using their replacement hips and knees.
• David Kelley: A former U.S. attorney in Manhattan, Kelley investigated a stock fraud case involving Christie’s younger brother, Todd, but declined to prosecute him.  Kelley was later picked to monitor Biomet Orthopedics Inc., another of the medical device makers. The contract Christie gave Kelly was worth $10-12 million.
• Bristol-Myers Squibb:  A $300 million fraud settlement Christie negotiated with the New York company included a provision that Bristol-Myers endow a professorship at Seton Hall Law School, his alma mater. The U.S. Justice Department subsequently issued guidelines barring such requirements as part of out-of-court corporate crime settlements.
• David Samson. The former Republican attorney general and party fundraiser was a monitor of medical device maker Smith & Nephew Inc. His firm is now on Christie’s payroll for legal work: the candidate’s pre-election finance report last month listed expenditures of $9,439.40 in legal fees/rent and $18,439.40 still owed to Wolff & Samson of West Orange.
• Herbert Stern: Christie mentor got $10 million contract to monitor University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, accused of double-billing for services covered by Medicare. Christie close friend and fundraiser John Inglesino, a partner in Stern’s law firm, was paid $325 per hour for his work as counsel on the monitorship. Stern, Inglesino, another partner and their wives later gave $23,800 in donations to Christie’s campaign for governor. The donations were matched, 2-1, under New Jersey’s campaign finance laws, bringing the total amount to $71,400.
• Debra Wong Yang: Like Kelley, Yang, a former U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, is a former Christie colleague. The Republican-connected prosecutor and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner, who had ties to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, was chosen to monitor Deputy Orthopaedics Inc for millions of taxpayers dollars.
• John Carley. A former Cendant Corp. vice president and Federal Trade Commission lawyer under President Reagan, Carley was on Sen. John McCain’s 2008 New York fundraising team. He oversaw a nonprosecution agreement involving Stryker Orthopedics.

Chris Christie has many skeleton’s in his closest which are sure to come out as election day approaches. Christie’s tactic of running on a platform of ethics, as a crusader against corruption, seems to have a few huge critical flaws.

Corzine’s record speaks for itself and corruption plagues the entire government in NJ. Voter’s are just outright fed up and the lesser of the two evils presented to us this year are not just to acceptable.

What do you think? Can either of these candidates save our sink from shipping or is independen candidate Chris Dagget our only hope? Let us know. Post a comment.

Filed under: Chris Christie | Tagged: Chris Christie, Corruption, Scandal |