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Puerto Rico grand jury subpoenas area firms
A federal grand jury investigating the governor of Puerto Rico has subpoenaed records on dozens of Philadelphia-area companies and business executives who have contributed to his past campaigns or done business on the island.
Robert M. Feldman, a longtime political associate of U.S. Sen.-elect Bob Casey Jr., and 10 of his companies are among those named on federal grand jury subpoenas being delivered across the Philadelphia region and in Puerto Rico.
The subpoenas ask for all company documents relating to Puerto Rico Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila.
The FBI is investigating whether Vila steered government contracts to campaign contributors, or whether illegal donations were made to Vila's campaign, sources said.
In all, the grand jury in San Juan is seeking records on 30 area firms owned by seven business executives, all of them substantial donors to Mayor Street and other area politicians. Among them are prominent developer Kenneth N. Goldenberg, the Parkway Corp., and Hill International of Marlton, N.J.
"We responded," said Howard Trachtman, spokesman for Philadelphia's Parkway Corp., which received a subpoena from Puerto Rico. "We don't know what they're fishing for. They're certainly on a fishing expedition. "
Trachtman said the company told investigators that the firm and its president, Joseph S. Zuritsky, had no contact with Acevedo Vila - who has been under investigation for months by a federal grand jury in San Juan.
He said a Parkway subsidiary once ran parking operations in Puerto Rico, but had not worked on the island for 15 years. Federal records show Zuritsky did not contribute to Acevedo Vila.
The subpoenas seek records for 10 of Goldenberg's companies.
"We've received requests for information regarding this matter in the past," Goldenberg spokesman Greg Reaves said. He said they were cooperating.
Goldenberg, one of Street's largest donors, gave Acevedo Vila $7,000 in 2002. In the past, he has donated to fund-raisers organized by Feldman.
A company official said Goldenberg had no business in Puerto Rico.
The latest subpoena delivered to the Acevedo Vila administration was first reported by San Juan's El Nuevo Dia newspaper Friday.
For months, Puerto Rican newspapers have reported that Feldman and a business associate, Candido Negron, are at the center of an FBI investigation into contributions to Acevedo Vila when he was Puerto Rico's nonvoting member of Congress in 2002.
The FBI wants to know whether anyone tried to disguise the true source of the money, in violation of federal campaign law.
Some area donors listed on Acevedo Vila's federal campaign reports told The Inquirer in June that they had never given the money.
Those donors were connected to Negron, who also is listed on the latest subpoena. One reported $5,000 donor was a 71-year-old Germantown woman whose daughter worked for Negron. The daughter told The Inquirer that her mother never gave the money.
During the Senate race in Pennsylvania, Republican Sen. Rick Santorum aired TV ads that referred to that report, without naming Feldman.
Though Feldman had served a top fund-raiser in Casey's past campaigns, he was not directly involved in the U.S. Senate race, campaign officials said.
With the latest subpoena, the FBI has expanded its investigation to look for other connections between Philadelphia-area donors and the Acevedo Vila administration.
Feldman and his partner Negron are under scrutiny in Puerto Rico because they were seeking a contract from the island's government health-care system for Doral Dental, a Wisconsin-based company that has paid them hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions.
Henry E. Hockeimer Jr., an attorney representing Feldman, said his client's companies did no work in Puerto Rico.
Some of the companies named in Puerto Rico subpoenas also surfaced in the City Hall corruption investigation that exploded in October 2003 when an FBI bug was found in Street's office.
One example was Patch Management, a Bensalem street repair company owned by Lewis Tarlini. He gave $5,000 to Acevedo Vila in 2002, and was a regular contributor to Street and a political committee run by the late power broker Ronald A. White.
Tarlini was never accused of wrongdoing. He did not respond to a request for comment.
Pottstown's Investment Management Advisory Group (IMAGE) also was at the center of the City Hall corruption investigation. Its president, David Eckhart, gave $6,500 to Acevedo Vila in 2002 and another IMAGE executive, William R. Howell, gave $5,000 that year.
A company spokesman said IMAGE in 2000 advised the Puerto Rican government on a bond deal. In 2004, it again attempted to get work there but was unsuccessful.
According to testimony in the City Hall corruption trial, IMAGE provided former Philadelphia City Treasurer Corey Kemp with a $1,700 ticket to special events surrounding the 2002 NBA All-Star Game and a $600 limousine ride to a concert in Scranton in 2003.
Kemp was sentenced to 10 years in prison. IMAGE was not charged with any crime.
Contact staff writer Mark Fazlollah at 215-854-5831 at mfazlollah@phillynews.com.
