Former Fiesta Bowl executive indicted
by Craig Harris - Nov. 16, 2011 12:01 PM
The Arizona Republic
According to this
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Natalie Wisneski, the Fiesta Bowl's former chief operating officer, has been indicted in Arizona federal court for her role in an alleged cover up regarding illegal political contributions by bowl employees and for filing false financial records, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today.
Wisneski is the first person charged in a wide criminal probe of the bowl, former employees and others associated with the high-profile Bowl Championship Series college football game that will be played Jan. 2.
The nine-count federal grand jury indictment alleges Wisneski, 47, made campaign contributions in the name of another, caused false statements to be made to the Federal Election Commission, filed false tax returns and conspiracy.
The indictment alleges Wisneski solicited campaign contributions from Fiesta Bowl employees for federal, state and local candidates for elective office and arranged to reimburse them for their contributions with Fiesta Bowl money.
She also is charged with filing false tax returns on behalf of the bowl, which is run by four non-profit organizations. She allegedly denied in the returns that the bowl had any lobbying expenses or political expenditures.
The Arizona Republic was seeking comment from Wisneski.
The indictment handed up Tuesday by a federal grand jury comes nearly two years after The Republic reported that current and former employees said they were reimbursed by the bowl for making campaign contributions. The Republic also reported then that the bowl had spent nearly $1.5 million during the last decade on lobbyists but reported on its tax returns that it didn't engage in lobbying.
At that time, Wisneski denied any wrongdoing, and for about nine months bowl officials dismissed The Republic's reporting and worked to convince state elections regulators there were no improprieties. When the assistant to the bowl's chief executive told the board chairman that The Republic's reports were true, the bowl launched an independent investigation in October 2010.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said its investigation is ongoing and it continues to work with the Arizona Attorney General's Office on a criminal probe regarding the bowl, while the FBI and the IRS works with prosecutors. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office also is investigating 28 legislators and four other elected office holders who took gifts from the Fiesta Bowl.
The bowl this past spring forced Wisneski to resign and fired former Chief Executive John Junker.
Wisneski, of Tempe, was second-in-command at the bowl and had a total compensation of $391,824 in fiscal 2010.
She was forced out following the bowl's independent internal investigation that found widespread misuse of bowl funds, including the reimbursement of employees for campaign contributions and trips to strip clubs. Findings from that investigation were laid out in a public report in late March 2011. The 276-page report, along with spreadsheets and numerous other documents and interviews, was turned over to state and federal prosecutors.
The report said Wisneski in six separate interviews during three months admitted to being reimbursed for making political contributions; reimbursing other employees at the bowl; and participating in a cover up regarding the reimbursement scheme.
Wisneski also implicated Junker and Gary Husk, a former lobbyist for the bowl, as participating in the campaign reimbursement scheme and cover up.
Wisneski told bowl investigators that Husk instructed her to alter checkbook entries regarding reimbursements, and that she was instructed to destroy accurate financial ledgers.
Husk, who is under a state Bar of Arizona investigation, has denied the allegations and any wrongdoing. Junker has declined to comment.
Other employees told investigators that the bowl reimbursed 11 staffers for a total of more than $40,000 in political donations.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says representatives of the federal campaigns identified in the indictment have cooperated in the investigation and there is no evidence to suggest the campaigns knew that the Fiesta Bowl reimbursed employees.
The bowl's political activities, according to employees interviewed in the internal report, were directed to public officials who could help the bowl maintain its prominence in the college football world with favorable legislation and ward off unfriendly laws. Elected officials who received gifts from the bowl also helped the Fiesta Bowl obtain public subsidies.
IRS regulations bar non-profits from making political-campaign contributions. Penalties could include the bowl losing its non-profit status, which means the bowl is exempt from paying taxes on revenue.
But Robert Shelton, the Fiesta Bowl's executive director, said Tuesday that he's confident the bowl will not lose its non-profit status because the bowl has cooperated with the IRS, and has implemented numerous reform measures in handling finances and corporate governance. Shelton also said the bowl had hired a new chief financial officer. He made his comments during a meeting with The Republic's editorial board, which was before the indictment was announced.
Wisneski, who does not have a college degree, began working at the Fiesta Bowl in 1989 in the accounting department. She became the assistant controller in 1994. In 1999, she was named vice president of finance; in 2006, she was promoted to chief operating officer. Wow! She doesn't even have a college degree and she is making $391,824 as an employee of the Fiesta Bowl
John Zidich, CEO and publisher of The Arizona Republic, is a former member of the Fiesta Bowl's board of directors and was on the bowl's five-member executive committee from January 2010 to April 2011. The Arizona Republic is a Fiesta Bowl advertising sponsor.