The indictment spelled out the wrongdoing: In or about April 2011 through in or about March 2013, the defendants [Robert and Maureen McDonnell] participated in a scheme to use Robert McDonnell’s official position as the Governor of Virginia to enrich the defendants and their family members by soliciting and obtaining payments, loans, gifts and other things of value from JW and Star Scientific in exchange for Robert McDonnell and the [Office of the Government of Virginia] performing official actions on an as-needed bases, as opportunities arose, to legitimize, promote … Star Scientific’s products, including Anatabloc … the defendants took steps throughout that time to conceal the scheme.
Immediately after former Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell and his wife Maureen were charged with 14 counts of fraud and conspiracy, McDonnell responded with a seven-minute-long declaration of innocence while his attorneys filed a motion challenging the government’s legal theory used in bringing the charges. The charges stem from a four-year relationship the McDonnells had with the wealthy owner of a nutritional supplement company who allegedly bought special favors from them with loans, personal use of his private plane, and shopping trips.
The 43-page grand jury indictment was released on Tuesday and laid out in excruciatingly painful detail the alleged wrongdoings, quoting e-mails between Mrs. McDonnell and members of the governor’s staff and with Jonnie Williams, the owner of Star Scientific, the maker of a nutritional supplement called Anatabloc. Here are some of those details:
In or about March 2009, as a result of requests from Robert McDonnell’s staff to [Jonnie Williams – referred to throughout as “JW”], Robert McDonnell began using a jet aircraft owned by JW during his campaign for Governor of Virginia. Prior to this time, Robert McDonnell and JW had never met, and they had no personal or professional relationship…
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