Former US mayor indicted over Caribbean trips
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| Published on Friday, July 13, 2007 |
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NEW YORK, USA (AFP): A former mayor of the US city of Newark was charged Thursday with using city funds to take eight different women on luxury trips to the Caribbean and Brazil.
Sharpe James, 71, stands accused of spending 58,000 dollars on luxury hotel suites, upmarket restaurants and rented convertibles between 2001 and 2006 in locations including Rio de Janeiro, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
One trip he is accused of making at the city's expense was to Florida, to test drive a Rolls Royce, according to the 33-count indictment.
Other trips allegedly put on official expenses included going to South Carolina to inspect properties that he and one of his companions had bought and a trip to Maryland to inspect a yacht he wanted to buy.
He was also charged with enabling one of his companions to buy city land at a massive discount and reap more than half a million dollars in profits.
Both James and one of his companions, Tamika Riley, face charges that can carry statutory maximum prison sentences of 20 years.
"The allegations in this indictment are stark examples of the greed and arrogance of unchecked power," US attorney Christopher Christie said in a statement.
"The incidents of theft and abuse detailed in today's indictment allege a shameless and outrageous misuse of government funds that are stunning in their scope," New Jersey attorney general Anne Milgram added. |
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