By Bruce Alpert, Times-Picayune
September 27, 2009, 5:58AM
This story was reported by Jonathan Tilove and Bruce Alpert
As the corruption case against former Rep. William Jefferson was about to go to trial in June, prosecutors learned from their star witness that she had had a sexual relationship with the undercover FBI agent who drove her to all the meetings where she secretly taped and delivered cash to the New Orleans Democrat.
On Monday, Judge T.S. Ellis III denied a request by Jefferson's lawyers for a new trial, a request based in part on defense claims that Ellis erred in not letting them bring up Lori Mody's relationship with an FBI agent at trial.
But according to court documents unsealed last week, the FBI and its Office of Professional Responsibility knew at least as far back as last December that the agent, John Guandolo, "had had an intimate relationship with a confidential source that he thought could damage an investigation." But they never passed that information to the U.S. attorney's office prosecuting Jefferson or the lead FBI agent in the investigation.
The failure to provide the court and the prosecutors with such explosive information raises questions about FBI conduct, even as the revelation about Guandolo's relationship with Lori Mody, the northern Virginia businesswoman at the center of the Jefferson probe, adds a new layer of intrigue to the case.
It also shows how the actions of a single agent could have wrecked the long and meticulous Justice Department pursuit of Jefferson. Mody did not testify at the trial, but the tapes she secretly recorded were allowed to be played for the jury and were a key to the conviction of the nine-term congressman on 11 of 16 corruption charges.
"This is just unbelievable, " said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who has followed the case closely. "If the FBI was aware that an agent had an improper relationship with a confidential source, it is information that should have been disclosed to the court."
"It's very disturbing, " said Harvey Silverglate, a Boston lawyer and author of a recent book critical of the federal law enforcement. "First of all, an agent shouldn't be having an affair with a government informant. And if it does happen, of course it must be disclosed because it could affect the credibility of the informant and the individual agent and investigation."
FBI agent resigns
Guandolo resigned from the FBI on or about Dec. 1, before the bureau's Office of Professional Responsibility could question him about his sexual liaisons with Mody, as well as with women FBI agents, relationships detailed in a document Guandolo had prepared.
FBI spokesmen at the Washington, D.C., field office and at national headquarters said Friday that they could not comment on personnel matters. William Carter of the FBI National Press Office said he had brought the question of why the FBI did not pass along what they knew about Guandolo to the federal court, to the FBI's Office of General Counsel for their review.
On Friday, Guandolo declined to go beyond a statement he gave to the FBI on June 7, in which he expressed his "deep remorse" for his sexual relationship with Mody, and his hope that it wouldn't damage the case against Jefferson.
After Mody told prosecutors of her relationship with Guandolo, the government announced that they would not call her as a witness and scrambled to have the lead FBI agent in the case provide the testimony to establish the surveillance tapes.
On Monday, Judge T.S. Ellis III denied a request by Jefferson's lawyers for a new trial, a request based in part on defense claims that Ellis erred in not letting them bring up Mody's relationship with Guandolo at trial. After sentencing Oct. 30, fter sentencing Oct. 30, the defense is expected to appeal Ellis' decision to deny a new trial.
Chance of appeal
Turley and other expert observers said that defense chances of a successful appeal based on the new information are slim. But Turley said that Guandolo's brazen behavior in such a high-profile case raises questions about the "FBI culture, " especially in light of somewhat similar claims in the botched prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
Stevens was convicted of corruption last October, but on Dec. 2 -- right when Guandolo was leaving the FBI -- one of two FBI agents assigned to the Stevens case filed a complaint suggesting, among other things, that there has been an "inappropriate relationship" between Mary Beth Kepner, the lead FBI agent in the case, and the key government witness, Bill Allen. Earlier this year, Attorney General Eric Holder dropped the charges against Stevens.
Ellis ruled that Guandolo's relationship with Mody was irrelevant, and telling the jurors would have had a "prejudicial" effect on their deliberations.
But, Turley said, "the judge was very forthcoming with the government in allowing highly damaging and personal facts about Jefferson to go before the jury, including the fact that he had slept over at the house of a female aide." The aide said they slept in separate rooms.
The relationship between Guandolo and Mody is all the more stunning because she was described as being a volatile and vulnerable figure, especially in her relationships with men.
'Mild intimacy'
According to a statement from Mody included in the unsealed document, she and Guandolo engaged in "mild intimacy" in New Orleans in April 2005, and that on subsequent occasions Guandolo made "inappropriate sexual advances" in a car, at her townhouse and at her parents' home. On one occasion, she said, he was "overly aggressive" but she fended him off. Then once or twice, between late April and the end of May 2005, they had consensual sex.
On May 12, 2005, Mody and Jefferson shared a four-hour dinner at which she talked to Jefferson about her problems with men while Guandolo, posing as her driver, waited in the car.
According to the law enforcement Web site "Tickle the Wire, " the FBI learned of Guandolo's misbehavior because he had, on the advice of his therapist, made a list of his sexual affairs so he could better see the damage he had done to his marriage.
Asked how the list came into the hands of FBI officials, Guandolo said Friday, "it's a lot simpler than you think." He did not elaborate.
At his last meeting with Mody, in early 2006, after the Jefferson investigation had ended, Guandolo, a counter-terrorism expert in the FBI, asked her to contribute $75,000 to one of several anti-terrorist organizations.
Since leaving the bureau, Guandolo has been writing and speaking about the Islamic terrorist threat in America, which he has said the leadership in the FBI is being inadequately aggressive in combating.
Asked how the news of his role in the Jefferson case might affect his future as a lecturer on the anti-terrorism circuit, Guandolo said, "I guess we'll see. I mean it's only been a few days."
Jonathan Tilove can be reached at jtilove@timespicayune.com or 202.383.7827. Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.383.7861.
September 27, 2009, 5:58AM
This story was reported by Jonathan Tilove and Bruce Alpert
As the corruption case against former Rep. William Jefferson was about to go to trial in June, prosecutors learned from their star witness that she had had a sexual relationship with the undercover FBI agent who drove her to all the meetings where she secretly taped and delivered cash to the New Orleans Democrat.
On Monday, Judge T.S. Ellis III denied a request by Jefferson's lawyers for a new trial, a request based in part on defense claims that Ellis erred in not letting them bring up Lori Mody's relationship with an FBI agent at trial.
But according to court documents unsealed last week, the FBI and its Office of Professional Responsibility knew at least as far back as last December that the agent, John Guandolo, "had had an intimate relationship with a confidential source that he thought could damage an investigation." But they never passed that information to the U.S. attorney's office prosecuting Jefferson or the lead FBI agent in the investigation.
The failure to provide the court and the prosecutors with such explosive information raises questions about FBI conduct, even as the revelation about Guandolo's relationship with Lori Mody, the northern Virginia businesswoman at the center of the Jefferson probe, adds a new layer of intrigue to the case.
It also shows how the actions of a single agent could have wrecked the long and meticulous Justice Department pursuit of Jefferson. Mody did not testify at the trial, but the tapes she secretly recorded were allowed to be played for the jury and were a key to the conviction of the nine-term congressman on 11 of 16 corruption charges.
"This is just unbelievable, " said George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley, who has followed the case closely. "If the FBI was aware that an agent had an improper relationship with a confidential source, it is information that should have been disclosed to the court."
"It's very disturbing, " said Harvey Silverglate, a Boston lawyer and author of a recent book critical of the federal law enforcement. "First of all, an agent shouldn't be having an affair with a government informant. And if it does happen, of course it must be disclosed because it could affect the credibility of the informant and the individual agent and investigation."
FBI agent resigns
Guandolo resigned from the FBI on or about Dec. 1, before the bureau's Office of Professional Responsibility could question him about his sexual liaisons with Mody, as well as with women FBI agents, relationships detailed in a document Guandolo had prepared.
FBI spokesmen at the Washington, D.C., field office and at national headquarters said Friday that they could not comment on personnel matters. William Carter of the FBI National Press Office said he had brought the question of why the FBI did not pass along what they knew about Guandolo to the federal court, to the FBI's Office of General Counsel for their review.
On Friday, Guandolo declined to go beyond a statement he gave to the FBI on June 7, in which he expressed his "deep remorse" for his sexual relationship with Mody, and his hope that it wouldn't damage the case against Jefferson.
After Mody told prosecutors of her relationship with Guandolo, the government announced that they would not call her as a witness and scrambled to have the lead FBI agent in the case provide the testimony to establish the surveillance tapes.
On Monday, Judge T.S. Ellis III denied a request by Jefferson's lawyers for a new trial, a request based in part on defense claims that Ellis erred in not letting them bring up Mody's relationship with Guandolo at trial. After sentencing Oct. 30, fter sentencing Oct. 30, the defense is expected to appeal Ellis' decision to deny a new trial.
Chance of appeal
Turley and other expert observers said that defense chances of a successful appeal based on the new information are slim. But Turley said that Guandolo's brazen behavior in such a high-profile case raises questions about the "FBI culture, " especially in light of somewhat similar claims in the botched prosecution of former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.
Stevens was convicted of corruption last October, but on Dec. 2 -- right when Guandolo was leaving the FBI -- one of two FBI agents assigned to the Stevens case filed a complaint suggesting, among other things, that there has been an "inappropriate relationship" between Mary Beth Kepner, the lead FBI agent in the case, and the key government witness, Bill Allen. Earlier this year, Attorney General Eric Holder dropped the charges against Stevens.
Ellis ruled that Guandolo's relationship with Mody was irrelevant, and telling the jurors would have had a "prejudicial" effect on their deliberations.
But, Turley said, "the judge was very forthcoming with the government in allowing highly damaging and personal facts about Jefferson to go before the jury, including the fact that he had slept over at the house of a female aide." The aide said they slept in separate rooms.
The relationship between Guandolo and Mody is all the more stunning because she was described as being a volatile and vulnerable figure, especially in her relationships with men.
'Mild intimacy'
According to a statement from Mody included in the unsealed document, she and Guandolo engaged in "mild intimacy" in New Orleans in April 2005, and that on subsequent occasions Guandolo made "inappropriate sexual advances" in a car, at her townhouse and at her parents' home. On one occasion, she said, he was "overly aggressive" but she fended him off. Then once or twice, between late April and the end of May 2005, they had consensual sex.
On May 12, 2005, Mody and Jefferson shared a four-hour dinner at which she talked to Jefferson about her problems with men while Guandolo, posing as her driver, waited in the car.
According to the law enforcement Web site "Tickle the Wire, " the FBI learned of Guandolo's misbehavior because he had, on the advice of his therapist, made a list of his sexual affairs so he could better see the damage he had done to his marriage.
Asked how the list came into the hands of FBI officials, Guandolo said Friday, "it's a lot simpler than you think." He did not elaborate.
At his last meeting with Mody, in early 2006, after the Jefferson investigation had ended, Guandolo, a counter-terrorism expert in the FBI, asked her to contribute $75,000 to one of several anti-terrorist organizations.
Since leaving the bureau, Guandolo has been writing and speaking about the Islamic terrorist threat in America, which he has said the leadership in the FBI is being inadequately aggressive in combating.
Asked how the news of his role in the Jefferson case might affect his future as a lecturer on the anti-terrorism circuit, Guandolo said, "I guess we'll see. I mean it's only been a few days."
Jonathan Tilove can be reached at jtilove@timespicayune.com or 202.383.7827. Bruce Alpert can be reached at balpert@timespicayune.com or 202.383.7861.