Renzi faces 44 criminal counts

By Joanna Dodder Nellans, The Daily Courier

December 31, 2008

A grand jury issued a 35-count indictment against U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi in February, but he refused to resign.

Renzi faces charges including conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion, money laundering and insurance fraud.

"I will not resign and take on the cloak of guilt because I am innocent," Renzi said in the written statement in February.

The U.S. Attorney's Office added seven more counts to the charges in November, including racketeering and making a false statement on a tax return.

Renzi's trial is to begin March 24 in Tucson, after he leaves office in January.

House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner called for Renzi to resign, but local Republicans did not follow suit.

When an FBI raid on his insurance business became public in April 2007, Renzi soon announced that he wouldn't seek a fourth term and he would give up his committee assignments.

Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick won Renzi's seat in November.

As early as 2004, questions about Renzi's campaign reports were surfacing. The Federal Elections Commission released an audit that year saying Renzi left out information about campaign contributions and expenditures in his reports.

In October 2006, FBI agents raided his family insurance office in Sonoita, but he still won re-election.

Renzi has not made a public appearance in Prescott since then. He represents the sprawling rural District 1.

Three of Renzi's business associates also face charges: James Sandlin, a former land development partner in Arizona; Andrew Beardall, former president of Renzi's insurance firm; and Dwayne Lequire, an accountant at Renzi's insurance agency.

All have pleaded not guilty.

In an unrelated case in June, Sandlin was convicted in Texas of lying to a federally insured financial institution.

The February indictment accuses Renzi of telling companies interested in federal land swaps that they had to buy a parcel along Arizona's San Pedro River from Sandlin in exchange for his support as a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.

Resolution Copper Corp. broke off negotiations with Sandlin, but then another group headed by Philip Aries put $1 million down on the Sandlin property, according to the indictment.

Sandlin then paid Renzi about $733,000 that he had owed Renzi ever since Sandlin bought Renzi's share of some land in the Kingman area, according to the indictment.

Renzi failed to disclose those earnings in his 2005 Congressional Financial Disclosure Statement, the indictment charges.

The indictment also accuses Renzi of embezzling more than $400,000 in insurance premiums from non-profit groups to boost his campaign coffers during his first run for Congress, then lying to state investigators about it.

The additional November charges accuse Renzi of using his insurance company as a conduit for criminally derived proceeds, and that he concealed his financial relationship with Sandlin from investor groups, the U.S. House and the public.

Renzi is trying to get the case thrown out by arguing that the Constitution gives him immunity from prosecution relating to legislative acts.

The legal staff for the U.S. House of Representatives has joined Renzi in challenging the constitutionality of the Justice Department's prosecution.

During pre-trial hearings this month, prosecutors said the defense argument is irrelevant and it doesn't apply when a lawmaker promises a vote in exchange for an act, according to the Associated Press.

Renzi also is seeking to suppress evidence that he says aides "stole" from his office, and from government wiretaps he says were illegal.