Latest pleas indicate FBI
investigating officeholders
12/23/2007
By Ramon Bracamontes /
El Paso Times
The admission by two
investment bankers that
they bribed several El
Paso elected officials
in exchange for their
votes is a major
development that now
puts elected officials
in the forefront of the
public corruption case,
several experts said
Saturday.
Roberto Gerardo
"Bobby" Ruiz pleaded
guilty Friday to four
combined counts of
conspiracy to commit
mail fraud, wire fraud
and a scheme to bribe
elected officials.
He is the former
managing director for
Bear Stearns, a bond
underwriter that has
done close to $2 billion
worth of bond sales for
El Paso governments.
Ruiz's partner,
Christopher Chol-Su Pak,
who is known in El Paso
as Chris Pak, pleaded
guilty to one count of
engaging in a scheme to
bribe an elected El Paso
County commissioner.
Pak is a former vice
president for the Bear
Stearns office in
Dallas.
Both live in Dallas,
and neither could be
reached for comment
Saturday.
Wayne State
University Law School
Professor Peter Henning,
who is an expert on
public corruption cases
and has been following
the El Paso
investigation, said the
latest development
reaffirms that elected
officials are the main
targets.
"This is major. There
are a lot of elected
officials in El Paso who
are not going to have a
good Christmas," Henning
said. "This is the worst
crime elected officials
can commit."
No elected officials
were named Friday in the
news release announcing the guilty pleas, and the federal "information" document used to detail the charges against Ruiz and Pak has not been made public.
However, the U.S. attorney's office news release did say that Pak bribed one county commissioner, who is referred to as man.
The charges against Ruiz state that he pleaded guilty to devising a scheme to bribe elected officials in the El Paso Independent School District, the El Paso Community College, the city of El Paso and members of the County Commissioners Court.
According to dozens of public records in the case, no community college or City Council officials have ever been named. One former EPISD trustee, Carlos "Coach" Cordova, pleaded guilty in November to accepting money in exchange for his vote on contracts.
The only current elected officials whose names have appeared on any of the public documents are County Judge Anthony Cobos and County Commissioners Luis Sariñana and Miguel Terán. They could not be reached for comment Saturday.
The offices of all three were searched in May by FBI agents, and their names appeared on the federal search warrants. The names of Bobby Ruiz and Bear Stearns were also on the search warrant.
And Cobos, Sariñana and Terán are named in the "information" document used to explain the charges against John Travis Ketner, Cobos' former county chief of staff. Ketner pleaded guilty to fraud and bribery charges in June.
In the information, Ketner said it was his job to get bribes from companies seeking work with the county.
The information also states that one company, First Southwest, had its bond contract with the county rejected because the company didn't want to pay a bribe. First Southwest officials have said in the past that they are victims in the public corruption case.
And the Ketner information says a company named "BS" paid for flights for elected officials. It is believed that BS in the Ketner information is Bear Stearns, and that Ruiz and Pak are two of co-conspirators named by Ketner.
Professor Henning said that Friday's developments come close to closing the loop on one aspect of the investigation.
"This is a pay-to-play scheme," Henning said. "The government is about to come down hard."
Henning said that in bribery cases, the organizational setup is usually a circle, and FBI agents try to get into the inner circle.
"When you get the payer of the bribes, you are one step away from the elected officials," he said. "These Bear Stearns guys are going to go jail, but the government will use them to get to the recipients."
Richard Schwein, the former FBI special agent in charge of the El Paso division, agreed that the bankers' pleading was a major development that makes it clear elected officials are next.
He said it wouldn't surprise him if more people pleaded guilty soon.
"Everyone gets a shot at pleading," Schwein said. "If everyone involved is willing to say 'I did it', the government will let them plead. A guilty plea is a victory for the investigation."
But pleading from now on might be tougher, he said, because the case appears to be coming together very well.
"I think they are still building a case brick by brick," Schwein said. "There is more to come."
Six people have pleaded guilty to federal charges as part of a widespread FBI public corruption investigation that began in 2005.
June 8, 2007: John Travis Ketner, former chief of staff for County Judge Anthony Cobos, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit bribery. In the process, he implicated 16 others, including county officials, individuals and companies in a court document known as an "information." The document describes how county officials allegedly sought bribes from vendors, received secret campaign donations, met in a bathroom and restaurants, and broke into a computer in an attempt to rig court cases. Among those thought to have been implicated are Cobos, County Commissioners Miguel Terán and Luis Sariñana, District Clerk Gilbert Sanchez and former County Commissioner Betti Flores.
July 6, 2007: Flores pleaded guilty to six counts of conspiracy to commit mail or wire fraud by trading her votes as county commissioner for money. She is the only one identified in documents associated with Ketner's guilty plea who has been charged with any wrongdoing. The other unnamed co-conspirators linked to Ketner's case have denied any wrongdoing.
Aug. 17, 2007: Bernardo Lucero Jr., vice president of Lucero/Melendez Architects, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to make false statements to obtain credit. He was accused of influencing an unnamed El Paso Independent School District trustee by securing a $25,000 loan for the trustee using illegal practices. The unnamed trustee is believed to be Sal Mena, who resigned from the board in August. Mena, who has denied the allegations, has not been charged or arrested.
Nov. 28, 2007: Carlos "Coach" Cordova pleaded guilty to a count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, wire fraud and the deprivation of honest services. Cordova was accused of exchanging his vote on the school board for money. The vendors or Cordova's uncharged co-conspirators were not identified in public documents outlying his charges.
Dec. 21, 2007: Roberto Gerardo Ruiz, better known as Bobby Ruiz, former managing director for the Dallas office of Bear Stearns, pleaded guilty to four counts of conspiracy to commit mail, wire fraud and a scheme to defraud the citizens of their right to the honest services of elected officials of the El Paso Independent School District, the El Paso Community College District, the city of El Paso and members of El Paso County Commissioners Court by seeking to bribe elected members of those boards and councils to secure their votes for certain vendors seeking to do business with the various public entities.
Dec. 21, 2007: Christopher Chol-Su Pak, also known as Chris Pak, former vice president of the Dallas office of Bear Stearns, pleaded guilty to engaging in a scheme to bribe an elected El Paso County commissioner in an effort to secure his vote for a specific vendor seeking to do business with the County of El Paso.
None of those who have pleaded guilty have been sentenced, and jail records do not show that any of them have been arrested. All pleaded guilty using a federal "information" document.
