(bribery middleman)Nate Gray gets 15 years in bribery scandal

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http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/113222373885790.xml&coll=2

Gray gets 15 years in bribery scandal

Judge tells packed courtroom people must be held accountable
Thursday, November 17, 2005

For years, Nate Gray portrayed himself as an honest businessman who made a fortune off parking lots and a gas station.

But in reality much of his wealth came from serving as a middleman for companies that traded bribes for public contracts. For his crimes, Gray, 48, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in federal prison.

"You have some very definite talents," U.S. District Judge James Gwin told Gray. "It would have been easy for you to be successful in a legitimate way without cutting corners and greasing palms."

A jury convicted Gray in August on 36 charges, including racketeering and money laundering. Jurors found Gray delivered bribes to politicians and other officials in Cleveland, East Cleveland, Houston and New Orleans...



Man who bribed 2 officials in Houston gets 15 years

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/rssstory.mpl/metropolitan/3466738

By DAN FELDSTEIN
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

The Cleveland businessman who bribed two Houston officials and several others in Ohio was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison Wednesday.

Nate Gray, a close friend of Cleveland's former mayor, also was ordered to pay $1.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service.

Supporters called out, "We love you, Nate," as Gray was led from the Cleveland courtroom in handcuffs.

Prosecutors showed less affection. "This case involves a nearly unprecedented pattern of corruption and fraud," Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach wrote in urging even more prison time...



Defendant Nate Gray Sentenced to 15 Years in Jail in Broad National Public Corruption, Fraud Scheme

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=56854

11/16/2005 6:25:00 PM

To: National Desk

Contact: U.S. Department of Justice, 202-514-2008 202-514-1888 (TDD); Web: http://www.usdoj.gov

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A Cleveland businessman convicted as part of a wide-ranging national public corruption scheme involving bribery and fraud has been sentenced to 15 years in prison, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory A. White of the Northern District of Ohio announced today.

In addition to the 15-year prison term, Nate Gray, 47, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James S. Gwin of the Northern District of Ohio to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. Gray, convicted in August 2005 following a corruption conspiracy trial, had also pleaded guilty to evading payment of previously assessed income taxes. The sentence imposed by the court today includes both the corruption and the tax charges, and Gray was immediately remanded into custody.

The sentencing for one of Gray's co-defendants, New Orleans businessman Gilbert Jackson, 51, was continued to a later date. Jackson was also remanded into custody, and still faces trial the Eastern District of Louisiana in January 2006 on a multi-count indictment for tax evasion.

The sentence imposed today was the result of a multi-district probe of public corruption offenses in Cleveland, East Cleveland, Ohio, Houston and New Orleans. In all, eight defendants have been convicted and sentenced in the case, in which Department of Justice prosecutors were assisted by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division. The investigation revealed a wide range of public corruption, including the providing of money and luxury items to public officials in exchange for official acts such as the awarding of municipal contracts...

http://www.usnewswire.com/