Philadelphia DA Indicted On Corruption and Bribery-Related Charges
Federal authorities handed down a 23-count indictment against Philadelphia's district attorney on Wednesday, charging the city's top prosecutor with wire fraud, honest services fraud and bribery-related charges for accepting $160,000 in gifts and services in exchange for favors.
R. Seth Williams was accused of accepting a vacation to the Dominican Republic, a custom sofa, a used Jaguar convertible, a luxury watch and cash over the course of five years while serving as Philadelphia's DA, a position he won in a 2009 election and was re-elected to in 2014. A Democrat and career prosecutor, the 50-year-old Williams was charged after a nearly two-year investigation.
Read: Police Corruption: Baltimore Officers Indicted For Robbing Victims, Filing False Affidavits
FBI and IRS agents began investigating Williams' finances since at least as early as 2015. In January, the Philadelphia Board of Ethics fined Williams $62,000 — the largest in the board's history — for failing to report more than $175,000 in gifts, which included a new roof, NFL sideline passes and vacations, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Following the fine, Williams announced he wouldn't seek a third term, but insisted he wouldn't resign his $175,000-a-year position.
“I have made regrettable mistakes in my personal life and personal financial life that cast an unnecessary shadow over the District Attorney's Office,” Williams said in February.
Tuesday's indictment charged that Williams helped defendants in criminal cases in exchange for the gifts he received. In one 2012 example, an unnamed business owner contacted Williams via text message and asked him to intervene in the sentencing of an acquaintance. Williams texted back, "I will look into it," before texting again minutes later, "April?" Federal investigators said that second text was a reference to when Williams traveled to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic on the business owner's dime.
Williams later texted the business owner his appreciation.
“I am merely a thankful beggar and don’t want to overstep my bounds... but we will gladly go.”
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