Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Austin lawyer, former state rep implicated in judicial bribery scandal

An Austin attorney and a former Texas state representative have been implicated in a South Texas bribery scandal involving defrocked district judge Abel Limas. Reports the Austin Statesman, Marc Garrett Rosenthal was charged "with 13 counts: conspiracy to violate the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, five counts of mail fraud, one count of tampering with witnesses, two counts of tampering with proceedings, extortion and three counts of deprivation of honest services." Wrote Steven Kreytak:

The indictment alleges that Rosenthal paid former state District Judge Abel Limas, who left the bench in 2008, for favorable rulings in his cases. The indictment said some of those payments were facilitated by a law partner of Rosenthal's, former state Rep. Jose Santiago "Jim" Solis.

Solis pleaded guilty to extortion in April, admitting that he paid Limas thousands of dollars for favorable court rulings. Solis could face up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing.

Limas has pleaded guilty to racketeering and accepting bribes and is awaiting sentencing.
I somehow hadn't picked up before that a former state rep was implicated in the bribery scandal. Disgraceful.

UPDATE (8:25): Add a DA's investigator from Cameron County to the list of folks caught up in this corruption investigation.
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5 comments:

  1. Incandesio8/24/2011 09:41:00 AM

    That motherfucker...Any relationship to Chuck Rosenthal, the former Harris County DA, do you think?

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  2. Kevin Stouwie8/25/2011 08:08:00 AM

    A less blatant, but equally troubling form of bribery occurs everyday in Texas Courts when lawyers who regularly write the good old campaign donation checks (and their clients, who indirectly finance the graft)are given preferential treatment over the ones who do not (or cannot afford to) pay for the VIP treatment.

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  3. Anonymous8/25/2011 10:10:00 AM

    No surprises here!!! This is the Texas Court system period. Corrupted!!!!

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  4. Anonymous8/25/2011 10:49:00 AM

    Let's not lose sight of the FACT that this attorney has not been convicted. To stay on top of this widening scandal I would recommend www.valleycentral.com. They've been on this from the beginning. And, make no mistake, it is a LARGE and SIGNIFICANT scandal. Is anyone keeping a count of the number of South Texas office holders - from sheriffs to county commissioners - that have been forced out of office by corruption charges over the past 10 years? It's tragic that the countless good, clean elected officials in South Texas that fight this corruption are at a great disadvantage.

    ReplyDelete
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