TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – A federal grand jury has returned a nine-count superseding indictment,

unsealed today, against John Thomas Burnette, 42, of Tallahassee, Florida.

United States Attorney Lawrence Keefe of the Northern District of Florida, Assistant Attorney

General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Special Agent in

Charge Rachel Rojas of the FBI’s Jacksonville Field Office made the announcement.

In December 2018, a federal grand jury charged Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox and Paige

Carter-Smith in a forty-four count indictment for conspiring to operate a racketeering enterprise

that engaged in acts of bank fraud, extortion, honest-services fraud and bribery. That indictment

also charged Maddox and Carter-Smith with substantive counts of bank fraud, false statements to

financial institutions, extortion, honest-services fraud, use of interstate facilities to

facilitate bribery, false statements to federal officers, conspiracy to interfere with the lawful

function of the IRS, and filing false tax returns.

In May 2019, the grand jury returned a forty-seven count superseding indictment adding Burnette as

a defendant and charging him with participating in the racketeering conspiracy and extortion,

honest services mail fraud, the use of facilities in interstate commerce to facilitate bribery, and

making false statements to federal officers. Maddox and Carter-Smith subsequently pleaded guilty to

two counts of honest-services fraud and one count of conspiring to interfere with the lawful

function of the IRS. The Government agreed at sentencing to dismiss other charges filed against

Maddox and Carter-Smith in that first superseding indictment.

The grand jury returned a nine-count second superseding indictment against Burnette only. The

charges in the first superseding indictment to which Maddox and Carter-Smith pleaded guilty are

undisturbed by the return of the second superseding indictment against Burnette. The second

superseding indictment does not include any new counts against Burnette; the nine counts from the

first superseding indictment are renumbered Counts One through Nine.

However, the second superseding indictment alleges additional acts of racketeering conspiracy.

Specifically, the second superseding indictment alleges that, in early 2014, Burnette caused a company to pay $110,000 in exchange for Maddox declaring a conflict and not voting at a Tallahassee

City Commission meeting. At that meeting, the Commission was slated to vote on an extension sought

by a hotel development group to allow more time to meet certain City requirements to build a hotel

close to a downtown hotel owned by Burnette. Maddox’s failure to participate resulted in a 2-2 tie

vote by the Commission that denied the hotel development group the extension it sought and ended

its project Burnette has waived arraignment on the second superseding indictment. The trial of this case is

scheduled for November 4, 2019.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue

Service – Criminal Investigation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen

M. Kunz, Gary K. Milligan, and Andrew J. Grogan of the Northern District of Florida’s Public Trust

Unit, and Trial Attorneys Simon J. Cataldo, Peter M. Nothstein, and Rosaleen O’Gara of the

Department of Justice, Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.

The maximum terms of imprisonment for the offenses are as follows:

•    20 years: Racketeering Conspiracy, Extortion, and Honest Services Fraud

•  5 years:   Use of Interstate Facilities in Furtherance of Bribery, Making False Statements to a

Federal Officer

An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of

federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and

entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a

reasonable doubt.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that

serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access

public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of

Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern

a, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.

 

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Suspended Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Charles Maddox and business associate Janice Paige Carter-Smith today each pleaded guilty to two honest services fraud counts and one tax fraud conspiracy count arising from a 47-count indictment. Maddox and Carter-Smith face up to 45 years in federal prison followed by supervised release, as well as $750,000 in fines. In addition, Maddox and Carter-Smith agreed to forfeit all interest in any property which was derived from proceeds of the crimes to which the defendants pled guilty and to a forfeiture money judgment in an amount to be determined by the Court.

The plea agreements were negotiated by the office of United States Attorney for the Northern District of Florida Lawrence Keefe and the Public Integrity Section of the United States Department of Justice, and accepted by Senior United States District Judge Robert Hinkle. Maddox and Carter-Smith will be sentenced on November 19, 2019, at 10:00 a.m. at the U.S. Courthouse in Tallahassee.

"Public office is the highest form of public trust, and the pattern of criminal activity by these defendants violated the sacred trust of the people. When Maddox should have been looking out for the best interest of the citizens of Tallahassee, he was instead lining his own pocket with Carter-Smith’s help. This U.S. Attorney’s Office places the utmost priority on rooting out and pursuing public corruption, and will continue to do so in order to restore the public’s trust in its government and elected officials," Keefe said.

Maddox and Carter-Smith pleaded guilty to one count each of honest services wire fraud, honest services mail fraud, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. In the statement of facts filed in support of his plea agreement, Maddox admits to having taken large sums of money in exchange for favorable actions on various issues that came before the City of Tallahassee. He participated in a scheme to defraud and deprive the City of Tallahassee and its citizens of its right to honest services through bribery. Carter-Smith admitted to participating with Maddox in these criminal acts.

A federal grand jury indicted Maddox and Carter-Smith in December, and a superseding indictment in May added defendant John Thomas Burnette in various counts.

"Abusing one's position for personal gain is a blatant disregard to the oath that every government employee takes," said Rachel L. Rojas of the FBI Jacksonville Division. "Corrupt public officials undermine the integrity of our government and violate the public’s trust, and rooting them out is among the most complex, tedious and significant work that the FBI does for the American public. The FBI and our law enforcement partners will continue to work together to ensure those who commit fraud and corruption are brought to justice."

The guilty plea acknowledges the allegations contained in the indictment that Maddox and Carter-Smith conspired to operate two companies, Governance Inc. and Governance Services LLC, as one entity they referred to as "Governance." Governance was part of a racketeering enterprise that accepted bribes and extorted money from Governance clients under color of Maddox’s office through fear of the economic harm Maddox could inflict through his influential position as a City Commissioner. Maddox and Carter-Smith pleaded guilty to charges of defrauding a bank of more than $250,000 through two fraudulent short sales of real property, lying to federal agents about Governance and other matters, and violating federal tax laws by conspiring to interfere with the IRS and filing false tax returns.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation. The case against Maddox and Carter-Smith was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen M. Kunz, Gary K. Milligan, and Andrew J. Grogan of the Northern District of Florida, and Trial Attorneys Simon J. Cataldo, Peter M. Nothstein, and Rosaleen T. O’Gara of the Department of Justice, Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General. To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website. For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – A federal grand jury has returned a forty-seven count superseding indictment, unsealed today, against suspended Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Charles Maddox, 51, Tallahassee political consultant Janice Paige Carter-Smith, 54, and John Thomas Burnette, 42, all of Tallahassee, Florida. 

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S.  Attorney Lawrence Keefe of the Northern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Rachel Rojas of the FBI’s Jacksonville Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Mary Hammond of the IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) Tampa Field Office made the announcement.

In December 2018, a federal grand jury charged Maddox and Carter-Smith in a forty-four count indictment for conspiring to operate a racketeering enterprise that engaged in acts of bank fraud, extortion, honest-services fraud and bribery.  That indictment also charged Maddox and Carter-Smith with substantive counts of bank fraud, false statements to financial institutions, extortion, honest-services fraud, use of interstate facilities to facilitate bribery, false statements to federal officers, conspiracy to interfere with the lawful function of the IRS, and filing false tax returns.  The superseding indictment adds Burnette as a defendant and charges him with participating in the racketeering conspiracy and extortion, honest services mail fraud, the use of facilities in interstate commerce to facilitate bribery, and making false statements to federal officers.

Burnette’s initial appearance is scheduled for today at 3:00 p.m. EST at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee.  The trial of this case has been scheduled for November 4, 2019.

More specifically, the December 2018 indictment alleges that Maddox and Carter-Smith conspired to operate two companies, Governance Inc. and Governance Services LLC, as one entity they referred to as “Governance.”  Governance was allegedly part of a racketeering enterprise which extorted money and accepted bribes from Governance clients under color of Maddox’s office and through fear of the economic harm which Maddox could inflict in his position as an influential City Commissioner.  Maddox allegedly agreed to and voted on matters and exerted influence on City employees to take actions that benefitted the businesses that paid Maddox and Carter-Smith through Governance.  Additionally, Maddox and Carter-Smith allegedly defrauded a bank of more than $250,000 through two fraudulent short sales of real property, lied to federal agents about Governance and other matters, and violated federal tax laws by conspiring to interfere with the IRS and filing false tax returns.

The superseding indictment adds charges that Burnette participated with Maddox and Carter-Smith in extorting representatives of a company seeking to develop properties in Tallahassee to pay money to Maddox through Governance in exchange for Maddox’s assistance as a public official in the proposed projects.  Further, it is alleged that Burnette arranged the logistics of bribe payments of $10,000 per month to Maddox through Governance, and told the company representatives that Maddox wanted them to deal only with Burnette.  Additionally, the superseding indictment alleges that when Maddox and Burnette traveled to Las Vegas with the company representatives paying for all expenses, Maddox and Burnette told the company representatives about Maddox threatening to destroy a former client’s business deals if the former client did not pay Maddox.  The superseding indictment further alleges that at subsequent meetings, when asked by company representatives about stopping the bribe payments to Maddox, Burnette made various extortionate statements to the representatives as to what actions Maddox would take to cause economic harm to the company if they stopped making the $10,000 monthly payments to Maddox.  The superseding indictment further alleges that Burnette made false statements to the FBI concerning the name of the firm that Carter-Smith had, his knowledge of the company making payments to Maddox through Governance, and the content of conversations that Maddox had with company representatives.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stephen M. Kunz, Gary Milligan, and Andrew J. Grogan of the Northern District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Simon J. Cataldo and Peter M. Nothstein of the Department of Justice, Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.

The maximum terms of imprisonment for the offenses are as follows:

30 years: Bank Fraud, False Statements to a Financial Institution

20 years: Racketeering Conspiracy, Extortion, and Honest Services Fraud

5 years: Use of Interstate Facilities in Furtherance of Bribery, Making False Statements to a Federal Officer, Conspiracy to Defraud the United States

3 years: False Statement on a Tax Return

 

An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt.  All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General.  To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website.  For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.

 

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Charles Maddox, 50, and Tallahassee political consultant Janice Paige Carter-Smith, 53, both of Tallahassee, have been indicted in a forty-four count indictment for conspiring to operate a racketeering enterprise that engaged in acts of bank fraud, extortion, honest services fraud, and bribery.  Maddox and Carter-Smith are also charged with substantive counts of bank fraud, false statements to financial institutions, extortion, honest services fraud, use of interstate facilities in furtherance of bribery, false statements to federal officers, conspiracy to interfere with the lawful function of the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), and filing false tax returns.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Attorney for the United States Karen Rhew-Miller of the Northern District of Florida Acting Under Authority Conferred by 28 U.S.C. § 515, Special Agent in Charge Charles Spencer of the FBI’s Jacksonville Field Office, and Special Agent in Charge Mary Hammond of the IRS – Criminal Investigation Tampa Field Office made the announcement.

The initial appearance is scheduled for today, Wednesday, December 12, 2018, at 3:00 p.m. EST at the United States Courthouse in Tallahassee in the Magistrate Judge’s Courtroom on the main floor.  The trial date will be determined at this hearing.

Maddox and Carter-Smith allegedly conspired to operate two companies, Governance, Inc., and Governance Services, LLC, as one entity they referred to as “Governance.”  Per the indictment, Governance was part of a racketeering enterprise that extorted money and accepted bribes from Governance clients under color of Maddox’s office and through fear of the economic harm that Maddox could inflict in his position as an influential City Commissioner.  The indictment alleges that Maddox voted on matters and exerted influence on City employees to take actions that benefitted the businesses that paid Maddox and Carter-Smith through Governance.

According to the charges, Maddox and Carter-Smith made false statements to the FBI concerning Maddox’s affiliation with, and management of Governance and Governance Services.  The indictment alleges that during the course of the conspiracy, Maddox made false statements under oath to a Florida Commission on Ethics investigator and in a sworn deposition about his affiliation with Governance.  He also concealed from the Tallahassee City Attorney and the City Commission the fact that he was being paid by companies doing business with the City.

The indictment further alleges that Maddox and Carter-Smith also defrauded a bank of more than $250,000 through two fraudulent short sales of real property, lied to federal agents about Governance and other matters, and violated federal tax laws by conspiring to interfere with the IRS and filing false tax returns.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen M. Kunz of the Northern District of Florida and Trial Attorneys Simon J. Cataldo and Peter M. Nothstein of the Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section.

The maximum terms of imprisonment for the offenses are as follows:

30 years: Bank Fraud, False Statements to a Financial Institution

20 years: Racketeering Conspiracy, Extortion and Honest Services Fraud

5 years: Use of Interstate Facilities in Furtherance of Bribery, Making False Statements to a Federal Officer, Conspiracy to Defraud the United States

3 years: False Statement on a Tax Return

An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law and is not evidence of guilt.  All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida is one of 94 offices that serve as the nation’s principal litigators under the direction of the Attorney General.  To access public court documents online, please visit the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida website.  For more information about the United States Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Florida, visit http://www.justice.gov/usao/fln/index.html.