Puerto Rico scandal taints four from area

A new pay-to-play scandal - Caribbean style - erupted yesterday as four Philadelphia fund-raisers were charged with conspiring to raise illegal campaign contributions for Puerto Rico's governor.

The indictment of Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, a Democrat, ensnared one of Pennsylvania's most prolific fund-raisers, Robert M. Feldman of Gladwyne. Feldman has brought in more than $1 million for Sen. Bob Casey Jr., Gov. Rendell, former Mayor John F. Street, and former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey.

The Puerto Rico case has strong Philadelphia roots. Three of the four fund-raisers indicted yesterday were investigated and secretly recorded by the FBI as part of the 2003 City Hall corruption probe.

The indictment alleges that the local fund-raisers - Feldman; Glen Mills dentist Cándido Negrón; Boothwyn executive Salvatore Avanzato Sr.; and Philadelphia businessman and lawyer Marvin I. Block - helped Acevedo Vilá evade finance laws related to the 2000 and 2004 campaign cycles.

Yesterday's indictment triggered a media frenzy in the island's capital, San Juan, where some senior officials urged calm, others urged impeachment, and the largest television station broadcast live coverage all afternoon.

"It's a very sad moment for Puerto Rico," said Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Velez, U.S. attorney for Puerto Rico. "No one is above the law."

The governor, who is expected to surrender to the FBI today, addressed the island last night on television. Flanked by U.S. and Puerto Rican flags, he wagged his right index finger at the camera a dozen times as he promised to fight the charges.

"I want you to know that the charges leveled against me by the U.S. Attorney's Office are totally and utterly false, and . . . I will vigorously defend my actions, my family and my honor," he said. "I love Puerto Rico. And I have always trusted the sense of justice, honesty and the goodness of the Puerto Rican people."

The investigation, which has been front-page news for two years in San Juan, has reached Washington as well. Acevedo Vilá's allies, citing the controversy over the firing of U.S. attorneys and other alleged political prosecutions, tried last year to block Rodríguez-Velez's Senate confirmation as U.S. attorney.

Rodríguez-Velez said in an interview yesterday that the case had been reviewed by the deputy attorney general. She referred political questions to the Justice Department, where a spokeswoman cited a speech on corruption delivered yesterday by Attorney General Michael Mukasey. Speaking generally, Mukasey said, "Politics has no role in the investigation or prosecution of political corruption or any other criminal offense."

Nonetheless, yesterday's charges are sure to affect two elections: Acevedo Vilá has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama in the June 1 Puerto Rico primary, and the governor himself faces reelection in the fall.

The 55-page indictment charges the governor with conspiring to violate federal campaign laws, wire fraud, conspiring to defraud the IRS, and filing a false tax return. The indictment is divided by schemes alleged in San Juan and Philadelphia.

In San Juan, Acevedo Vilá is accused of conspiring with Puerto Rican supporters to make large payments to a public relations firm during his 2004 gubernatorial run to avoid campaign-finance limits. He allegedly used campaign money to pay for $57,000 worth of clothing and trips to Florida, Costa Rica and China, and allegedly funneled cash to relatives and staff to skirt campaign-finance laws that limit contributions from individual donors.

In 2002, when the Philadelphians began to help, Acevedo Vilá was Puerto Rico's nonvoting delegate to the House of Representatives, and his campaign was $545,000 in debt.

At a news conference yesterday, Luis Fraticelli, the senior FBI agent in San Juan, offered an unusual analysis about Acevedo Vilá's alleged decision to break the law to raise campaign cash.

"The darkest moment in the life of a man is when he sits down and plans how to obtain money he hasn't earned," he said.

The indictment alleged that the governor "personally participated in the solicitation, receipt, and recording of campaign contributions from Feldman, Negrón and Avanzato."

Negrón, who considered Feldman a mentor, met Acevedo Vilá through his cousin Jorge Velasco Mella, a staffer in Acevedo Vilá's San Juan congressional office. Negrón and Avanzato were business partners in a dental firm, and Block and Feldman had met on other deals.

According to the indictment, Feldman came up with the idea of skirting campaign-finance laws by funneling cash to Acevedo Vilá through others in Philadelphia and South Jersey.

Feldman soon became Acevedo Vilá's U.S. finance chairman; Negrón was named deputy finance chairman.

Within two years, Acevedo Vilá had raised $180,000 from South Jersey and Philadelphia - roughly 20 percent of his total contributions. This drew suspicion from a former Puerto Rico governor, Carlos Romero Barcelo, who alerted the FBI.

"Why," Fraticelli asked, "would employees, officials, and owners of dental companies in Pennsylvania and New Jersey be donating such large amounts of money to Acevedo Vilá's campaign when Acevedo Vilá was a nonvoting member of the U.S. Congress?"

The answer, the indictment alleged, is that Acevedo Vilá twice tried to help the Philadelphians "further their business interests" in Puerto Rico.

Three such contributors have told The Inquirer that Negrón reimbursed them for donations.

Feldman's lawyer, Henry E. Hockeimer Jr., said his client had done nothing wrong.

"We're shocked and disappointed that the U.S. attorney in Puerto Rico included Mr. Feldman in one count of this 27-count, 13-defendant, politically inspired indictment," Hockeimer said. "We are very confident Mr. Feldman will be vindicated at trial."

At dawn, FBI and IRS agents began making arrests in Puerto Rico and Pennsylvania. Block, 71, and Negrón, 41, were released on personal-recognizance bonds several hours later.

Block's lawyer, Paul George, said his client was innocent and should not have been rousted from bed. "This guy has been a member of the bar for 43 years and lived in the same house in Philadelphia for 49 years," George said. "It's outrageous."

Rodríguez-Velez, the San Juan prosecutor, said the arrests were standard procedure in federal court in Puerto Rico. Only the governor was offered the chance to surrender, she said, in deference to his office.

Feldman and Avanzato, a 69-year-old dentist who lives in Boothwyn, are expected to surrender to the FBI soon.

Although federal authorities in San Juan said yesterday that their investigation began with a tip on the island in 2004, FBI and IRS agents in Philadelphia were already investigating Feldman, Negrón and Block as part of the City Hall corruption probe.

The primary target of the Philadelphia investigation was powerbroker Ronald A. White, a chief fund-raiser for Street.

In 2002, while trying to get close to White, an undercover FBI agent recorded a meeting with Block and Feldman during which a $50,000 campaign contribution was discussed, sources said.

In 2003, FBI wiretaps on White's phones also recorded Feldman and Negrón working closely with White on dental-related and other deals.

On one call, Negrón boasted about attending Acevedo Vilá's 40th birthday party in Washington. Acevedo Vilá himself, however, was never recorded on any calls.

Feldman, Negrón and Block were not accused of any wrongdoing in the City Hall corruption case.

White, meanwhile, became the lead defendant in the City Hall case, charged with corrupting former City Treasurer Corey Kemp and conspiring with Commerce Bank executives to win sweetheart deals for his clients. White died of cancer before trial. Kemp and the bankers were convicted, and Kemp was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

In the Puerto Rico case, sources said Negrón had cooperated with authorities until last year, when his relationship with federal prosecutors deteriorated. Shortly afterward, the FBI searched his home. His lawyer, Jerry Reitano, declined to comment.

As Negrón left federal court in Philadelphia yesterday afternoon, he was confronted by a reporter and photographer for the newspaper El Nuevo Día. He politely waved them away.

"It's been a long day," he said.

Here are profiles of some of the 13 people indicted yesterday:

Gov. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá

Acevedo Vilá, 46, the governor of Puerto Rico, is charged with conspiracy to violate federal campaign laws, wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the IRS, and filing a false tax return. He was born in the Hato Rey section of San Juan; his father, Salvador Acevedo, was a judge and senator.

Acevedo Vilá, a lawyer, studied politics at the University of Puerto Rico and law at Harvard University.

A Democrat, he began his career clerking for state and federal judges before becoming an adviser to Gov. Rafael Hernández Colón.

In 2000, he became resident commissioner, a nonvoting member of the House of Representatives. In 2004, a year before his four-year term in Congress ended, he was elected governor.

Negrón, 41, of Glen Mills, Delaware County, is charged with conspiracy and making false statements. A dentist, he became active in dental businesses and Democratic fund-raising in 2001.

Negrón met Acevedo Vilá through a relative and became U.S. deputy campaign finance chairman of Acevedo Vilá's 2002 campaign for resident commissioner. According to the indictment, the men lunched together often.

Negrón has been involved in several dental-related businesses, including Family Dental Centers, Dental One, and DentalMatrix USA.

Salvatore Avanzato Sr.

Avanzato, 69, of Boothwyn, Delaware County, is charged with conspiracy. He is listed in campaign records as chairman of Dental One and an executive with Family Dental Centers.

Avanzato is a former business partner who served as Negrón's mentor before Negrón met Feldman. The Inquirer reported in November that Avanzato, who had a bitter falling-out with Negrón, was cooperating with the FBI.

Marvin I. Block

Block, 74, lives in Philadelphia. He is charged with conspiracy. Block is a businessman and lawyer who has lived here for more than 40 years.

- John Sullivan

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The full indictment, plus previous articles about the investigation and its targets, are at http://go.philly.com/indict EndText