Feds: Renzi made $700,000-plus in deal that led to indictment

WASHINGTON (CNN) — U.S. Rep. Rick Renzi has been indicted on charges he promised to support legislation in exchange for a land deal that netted the Arizona Republican more than $700,000, the Justice Department said Friday.

In a 35-count indictment unsealed early Friday, Renzi, 49, is charged with conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, extortion and insurance fraud.

Also named in the indictment is Renzi’s former business partner and real estate investor, James W. Sandlin, 56, of Sherman, Texas, and Andrew Beardall, 36, of Rockville, Maryland.

Renzi’s attorneys, Reid Weingarten and Kelly Kramer, denied their client had done anything wrong.

We will fight these charges until he is vindicated and his family’s name is restored, the attorneys said in a statement.

The attorneys said their client had buried his father, Eugene Renzi, at Arlington National Cemetery on Thursday.

We are disappointed that the Department of Justice would not allow a decent amount of time to pass to allow a son to mourn the passing of his father, the statement said.

At a news conference in Phoenix, Arizona, prosecutors said Renzi conspired with Sandlin to conduct a land swap in exchange for the congressman’s push to get a House committee’s approval for the deal.

Federal prosecutors said Renzi received $733,000 in the deal but did not disclose the income to Congress in his 2005 financial disclosure statement.

U.S. Attorney Diane Humetewa said that Renzi used his official authority as a United States representative to ensure that the 2005 federal land exchange included land owned by Sandlin.

Another goal of the conspiracy was to conceal that Renzi received a portion of the proceeds from the deal, according to the indictment.

Renzi was having financial difficulty in 2005 and needed a substantial infusion of funds to keep his insurance business solvent and maintain his personal lifestyle, the indictment said.

The 26-page indictment outlines a series of transactions involving Renzi and Sandlin, who were co-owners of Fountain Realty and Development, until Renzi ran for a seat in Congress and sold his share of the company to Sandlin.

Sandlin bought out Renzi’s interest for $200,000 and a note for $800,000, according to a statement from the Justice Department. In 2005, when Sandlin still owed him $700,000 on the note, Renzi insisted that two separate entities doing business in Arizona purchase Sandlin’s property in exchange for his support on land exchange legislation, authorities said.

Renzi and Beardall are charged with insurance fraud, accused of embezzling more than $400,000 in insurance premiums from the trust account of the Patriot Insurance Agency, a business owned by the Renzi family in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, to fund his congressional campaign in 2001 and 2002. They’re also accused of making false statements to influence state regulatory investigations, a statement said.

There were concealment efforts, misrepresentations and fraudulent statements made, Humetewa said.

If convicted, Renzi could face up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud and extortion and 20 years in prison for conspiracy to commit money laundering and concealing money laundering as well as lesser sentences for convictions on the other counts, prosecutors said.

Renzi and the other defendants will be served summonses to appear in U.S. Magistrate Court in Tucson, Arizona, for an arraignment March 6, Humetewa said.

Renzi has been under an ethical cloud since the FBI raided a family business last year. The FBI said it was investigating whether the congressman had used his office for personal gain.

He stepped down from the House Intelligence Committee in April after the raid.

Renzi, a three-term member of the House, announced in August that he would not seek re-election. He represents Arizona’s 1st Congressional District.
Feds: Renzi made $700,000-plus in deal that led to indictment – found here.

Ronaldo casts doubt on playing future

PARIS, France — Brazilian World Cup hero Ronaldo said he was unsure whether he will play again after suffering a serious knee injury last week.

The AC Milan striker cast doubt on his playing future as he left a Paris hospital where he underwent surgery to repair a ruptured left knee tendon.

Physically it will be difficult and mentally it will be very difficult, said Ronaldo.

I have not decided what should be done, he added.

My will is to keep on playing. My heart tells me this, but my body is showing me signs that it’s tired, that it is asking for rest.

The 31-year-old was injured in Milan’s 1-1 draw with Livorno in the Serie A last week, collapsing in a heap just minutes after coming on as a substitute.

The top-scorer in World Cup history with 15 goals for Brazil, Ronaldo had a successful two-hour operation last Thursday and followed that with eight days of physical therapy.

More treatment will follow in a specialized center, but Ronaldo will not be able to play again for at least eight or nine months.

If, at the end, I am back in shape physically and I can play, so much the better, Ronaldo said.

Otherwise, it will be a difficult decision to take, but that will be the decision.

Ronaldo’s career has been blighted by injury, the most serious a tear of his right knee tendon eight years ago.

He recovered to lead Brazil to the 2002 World Cup, scoring two goals in the final win over Germany.

Futher fitness problems meant he was less of a force in the 2006 finals, but he still scored three goals to increase his tally to 61 in 97 internationals.

But he has played sporadically since joining AC Milan from Real Madrid a little more than a year ago.

The three-time FIFA World Player of the Year showed glimpes of his old self in scoring twice in a 5-2 win over Napoli last month, but it may prove to be his swansong. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ronaldo casts doubt on playing future – found here.

Jetliner reported missing in Venezuela

(CNN) — A plane that was reported missing with 46 people aboard Thursday night has crashed in the Andes Mountains, authorities said.

Witnesses saw the plane go down, according to Antonio Rivero, national director of civil protection.

Emergency crews have launched rescue attempts, he said on a state-run television station, but harsh weather and rough terrain will make their job difficult.

The plane went missing while flying from Merida to the international airport near Caracas, an official said.

The pilot did not check in with controllers 20 minutes into the flight, as scheduled, suggesting that it encountered problems shortly after take-off.

Marquez said the plane is carrying 43 passengers and three crew members. Media reports said the Santa Barbara Airline plane was supposed to land about 7 p.m. (11:30 p.m. GMT). E-mail to a friend

From CNN’s Adrian Criscaut and Guillermo Arduino

Jetliner reported missing in Venezuela – found here.

Actor: I took sex scandal photos

HONG KONG, China (AP) — Hong Kong actor Edison Chen said Thursday he took most of the widely circulated racy photos that show him and several women performing sex acts, speaking publicly for the first time on a scandal that has shocked the Chinese-speaking world.

But Chen didn’t identify the women in the photos, which appear to show Chen and several female stars — including singer Gillian Chung and actress Cecilia Cheung — either performing sex acts or in sexually suggestive poses.

These photos were very private and have not been shown to people and were never intended to be shown to anyone, Chen said at a press conference, adding that the photos were stolen from him and distributed without his approval. Watch Chen explain his actions

Hong Kong police have already arrested several people in connection to the photos. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Actor: I took sex scandal photos – found here.

Actor: I took sex scandal photos

HONG KONG, China (AP) — Hong Kong actor Edison Chen said Thursday he took most of the widely circulated racy photos that show him and several women performing sex acts, speaking publicly for the first time on a scandal that has shocked the Chinese-speaking world.

But Chen didn’t identify the women in the photos, which appear to show Chen and several female stars — including singer Gillian Chung and actress Cecilia Cheung — either performing sex acts or in sexually suggestive poses.

These photos were very private and have not been shown to people and were never intended to be shown to anyone, Chen said at a press conference, adding that the photos were stolen from him and distributed without his approval. Watch Chen explain his actions

Hong Kong police have already arrested several people in connection to the photos. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Actor: I took sex scandal photos – found here.

Obama, Clinton agree to disagree

AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton, needing a win in Texas to derail Sen. Barack Obama in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, sought Thursday to contrast her opponent’s rhetorical skills with what she called her superior ability to govern.

I do think that words are important and words matter, Clinton said at a debate at the University of Texas. But actions speak louder than words.

Obama responded by laying out issues he’s worked on in the Senate and others he’d support as president — then called it ridiculous to suggest his supporters are being duped.

The implication is that the people who have been voting for me or involved in my campaign are somehow delusional, he said.

Well, I think they perceive the reality of what’s going on in Washington very clearly. What they see is that if we don’t bring the country together, stop the endless bickering, actually focus on solutions and reduce the special interests that have dominated Washington, then we will not get anything done. Watch Obama talk about his plan to change Washington

Much of the 90-minute debate featured the two candidates staking out similar positions on issues like Iraq, the economy and immigration. Watch the candidates weigh in on the economy

It was a very odd debate — the questioners had to beg them to differ with each other, said CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider. See what CNN’s political team thought of the showdown

The debate was the first the two have participated in since they met in Los Angeles January 31.

Five days later, the two effectively split the victories on Super Tuesday. But since then, Obama has rolled to 11 straight wins, a streak that leaves Clinton needing wins in delegate-rich Texas and Ohio on March 4.

Vermont and Rhode Island also hold primaries that day. Texas is the biggest prize, with 193 Democratic delegates.

Going into those primaries, Obama leads Clinton by 140 pledged delegates.

Responding to a question from the panel, Clinton’s sharpest attack on Obama came when she went after him for borrowing lines from a speech by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, his campaign co-chairman, in his own campaign speeches. The Clinton campaign has called that plagiarism.

If your campaign is going to be about words, they should be your own words, she said. Lifting whole passages isn’t change you can believe in; it’s change you can Xerox. Watch the spat over plagiarism

Some in the audience booed Clinton for the line.

This is where we start getting into silly season in politics, Obama replied, saying Patrick is a friend who suggested he use the lines. People start getting tired of it.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll out Monday suggests the Democratic race in Texas is a statistical dead heat.

In the survey, taken before Obama’s Tuesday victories in Wisconsin and Hawaii, 50 percent of likely Democratic primary voters support Clinton as their choice for the party’s nominee, with 48 percent backing Obama. The poll’s margin of error is 4.5 percentage points.

Two other recent polls also show the race statistically even.

With so much at stake, analysts said Clinton needed a very strong performance in the debate, the only time the two candidates will share a stage in Texas before the state’s primary. Watch Clinton make her appeal to Texan voters

Texas is the endgame. Hillary Clinton has to stop Obama in Texas. This means she has to do something to shake the race up. She has to raise doubts about Obama and get Democrats to rethink whether they really want to rally behind him, Schneider said.

In a state where Hispanic voters are expected to make up a large share of the March 4 electorate, the pair fielded questions on immigration reform and dealing with Cuba’s government in the wake of President Fidel Castro’s decision this week to step down. Watch the candidates talk about Cuba

Both Clinton and Obama voted to authorize President Bush to build a border fence between the United States and Mexico — but both said Thursday they would consult with leaders in border areas about where fencing is needed and where other methods could be used to secure the borders. Watch the candidates debate immigration

As with so much, the Bush administration has gone off the deep end, Clinton said.

Both also said they’d be willing to meet with Fidel Castro’s brother Raul — who is expected to become president of Cuba after his brother stepped down — if the nation’s leadership has shown signs of improving its record on human rights, freedom of the press and other issues.

Schneider said neither candidate appeared to have gained or lost significant ground in Thursday’s debate. After months of campaigning that have included 19 Democratic debates, some analysts said the two may be satisfied to stand on the themes they’ve established and simply let voters decide.

I think it is what is is right now, said CNN political analyst Gloria Borger.
Obama, Clinton agree to disagree – found here.