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| Subject: and look what rep are stooping to in order to get campaign funds | |
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Author: Bev |
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Date Posted: 09:13:30 05/05/07 Sat In reply to: Oropan 's message, "Another Dum made to pay up for illegal act" on 15:48:19 05/01/07 Tue I understand this attorney belonged to the firm that rick santorum was a partner in . http://www.post-gazette.com/includes/wider/images/topwideheadlocalnews.gif Widow's estate is frozen as lawyer investigated Saturday, May 05, 2007 By Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette An Allegheny County judge yesterday froze the $14.5 million trust fund of an elderly Upper St. Clair widow after prosecutors told the court the woman's attorney is under investigation in connection with political contributions made from her account. Prosecutors from the office of Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. said they are investigating Charles P. McCullough, the woman's attorney, for possible theft by failure to make disposition of funds received and misapplication of entrusted property. Previous story Embattled lawyer quits race for County Council (04/27/07) A petition filed with the court yesterday also says the woman, Shirley H. Jordan, 90, was unaware her money had been moved from PNC Bank to a Warren County-based savings bank. Legal documents making those transfers were signed by Mr. McCullough, acting under a broad power of attorney she granted him. The Jordan Trust was moved last year from PNC to Northwest Savings Bank after Mr. McCullough filed a memorandum in the court record asserting that someone else had placed Mrs. Jordan's signature on the document creating the trust. PNC officials have denied any forgery and submitted sworn statements from two bank officials who said they witnessed Mrs. Jordan signing the document. The money was later transferred from PNC to Northwest after Mr. McCullough signed on behalf of Mrs. Jordan using his power of attorney. Handling of the trust came under scrutiny, prosecutors told the court, after the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that four checks for $10,000 each had been written from Mrs. Jordan's trust fund for three candidates for Allegheny County Council as well as a candidate for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania Superior Court. In an interview with the newspaper, Mrs. Jordan denied approving the donations and said Mr. McCullough had acted without her knowledge and approval. Mr. McCullough has said she "absolutely" approved the donations. Allegheny County detectives, in an affidavit filed with the court yesterday, said Mrs. Jordan repeatedly told them she never approved the donations. "Oh come on," the document quotes Mrs. Jordan, "would I be crazy enough to give out a check for $10,000 to someone that I didn't know?" Mrs. Jordan told detectives she had also been unaware of a fifth check for $10,000, written last May, to Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh. The charity is headed by Mr. McCullough's wife, former Common Pleas Judge Patricia A. McCullough. "I'm not even Catholic," Mrs. Jordan told the detectives, who added that she has no tradition of giving donations to churches. All four candidates -- County Council members Vince Gastgeb, Jan Rea and Susan Caldwell, and Common Pleas Judge Cheryl Allen -- later returned the donations after questions were raised about whether Mrs. Jordan had approved them. Catholic Charities also returned its donation. Orphans' Court Judge Lee Mazur agreed to freeze the funds after receiving the petition from Deputy District Attorney Lawrence Claus, who is heading the probe. Mr. Claus also asked the judge to permit the trust to pay $20,000 a month for Mrs. Jordan's living expenses at The Grand Residence, an Upper St. Clair assisted living facility. Neither Mr. McCullough nor his lawyer, Clifford Levine, responded to requests for comment about the filing. Mr. McCullough, in an e-mail to the newspaper, which had forwarded a list of questions, complained of "erroneous statements and insinuations." Court documents say Mrs. Jordan told investigators she hired Mr. McCullough as her attorney because he was solicitor for Upper St. Clair and that she therefore trusted him. An Allegheny County court declared Mrs. Jordan incapacitated in 2004 after she was hospitalized, and a physician at St. Clair Hospital had previously diagnosed her with moderate dementia. Subsequently, that incapacitated status was lifted and a geriatric care worker later petitioned Orphans' Court to appoint a guardian to oversee Mrs. Jordan's affairs. That hearing was put in abeyance when Mr. McCullough later informed the court that he had been given power of attorney by Mrs. Jordan to oversee her affairs. The district attorney's filing came hours before Mr. McCullough's former law firm, Eckert Seamans Cherin and Mellott, submitted a petition to Orphans' Court to have a judge appoint a new attorney for Mrs. Jordan. Earlier in the day, Judge Mazur appointed another attorney, John G. Eidemueller, as temporary guardian for Mrs. Jordan. Mr. McCullough left Eckert Seamans one week after the first reports surfaced about the political donations from the Jordan Trust. Timothy Ryan, chief executive officer at Eckert Seamans, said officials at the firm were concerned about an April 17 e-mail Mr. McCullough sent to members of the Board of Advisers of a charitable foundation incorporated on behalf of Mrs. Jordan. In that e-mail, Mr. McCullough referred to the political contributions, "which by the way were made by her Corporate Trustee, Northwest Savings Bank, which did so after independent verification with her and after consultation with a separate estate planning lawyer within this law firm." Mr. Ryan said an in-house investigation has found no evidence that the contributions were cleared through other lawyers at Eckert Seamans. "This law firm did not know of those political checks. He did not vet them through anybody here and we did not give any counsel or advice on those contributions," Mr. Ryan said. Yesterday's petition was filed by Chris Farrell, an attorney with Cohen and Grigsby, along with William Mallin, general counsel for Eckert Seamans. In the filing, Eckert Seamans says it is unable to continue representing Mrs. Jordan in part because Mr. McCullough had, without the firm's approval or knowledge, taken legal files for her estate on or about April 18, shortly before leaving the firm. Mr. Ryan yesterday said Eckert Seamans has asked Mr. McCullough to return the files, but has received no reply. John Zador, a trust officer with Northwest Savings, declined to comment on the case. "It's confidential. No comment," he said. 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