|
|
6.7.2001 00:05
Hearing set
on releasing
campaign
accounts
BY TRACY BRETON
Journal Staff Writer
PROVIDENCE
-- The chief judge of the U.S. District Court has scheduled a hearing for June 15 to decide whether to lift or modify a restraining order that, for the past two months, has prevented Mayor Vincent A. Cianci's campaign organization from paying its bills.
Chief U.S. District Judge Ernest C. Torres scheduled the hearing at the request of the Friends of Cianci, the mayor's campaign organization, which wants to gain access to its funds so it can pay more than $33,000 in outstanding bills, as well as more than $36,000 in checks it wrote just before the restraining order took effect.
The U.S. Attorney's office, which is prosecuting Cianci and five codefendants on corruption charges, is opposing the motion to modify the restraining order that Torres issued on April 3 -- the day after the defendants' indictment.
Prosecutors asked for the restraining order because, if the mayor is convicted, the campaign money would be subject to forfeiture. The indictment against Cianci charges that the Friends of Cianci was illegally enriched by shaking down city contractors, including $250,000 from tow-truck operators.
Mark L. Smith, the lawyer for the Friends of Cianci -- who himself is one of the campaign organization's creditors -- says the restraining order is causing the Friends of Cianci "irreparable damage in the conduct of its business."
|
|
|
|
Printer-Friendly Version
