Public Corruption Indictments in North Carolina and Illinois
The Department of Justice recently announced two high-profile indictments of public corruption. The first case concerns former Buncombe County Commissioner Ellen Madans Frost, 65, of Black Mountain, N.C. who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit federal program fraud for her involvement in a plan to use Buncombe County funds to sponsor equestrian activities in North Carolina and Florida. The next case involves the mayor of Crestwood, Illinois- Louis Presta, 69- who was indicted by a federal grand jury for using an interstate facility in aid of bribery, and lying to federal law enforcement about his request and receipt of benefits from a representative of a red-light camera company that provided services to his town.
Ellen Madans Frost allegedly conspired with former County Manager, Wanda Skillington Greene, to defraud the county by misapplying funds allocated to the county’s Economic Development Program to support the Tryon International Equestrian Center (the Tryon Center) located in Polk County, and its affiliate, the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center located in Wellington, Florida. Frost wanted to sponsor the Tyron Center and equestrian activities on behalf of the county and Greene proposed using funds from the county to do so. Frost and Greene entered into negotiations with equestrian enterprises without the knowledge or consent of the Board of Commissioners, which is a requirement by state law.
Greene and Frost used the funds to promote the Asheville Regional Airport, a non-government entity, as a façade so there would be no signage in the name of Buncombe County even though the county was the paying sponsor. Assistant United States Attorneys Richard Edwards and Don Gast of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Asheville are prosecuting the case.
In the second high-profile public corruption case, Louis Presta was charged with three counts of using a facility in interstate commerce in aid of bribery and official misconduct, two counts of willfully filing a false income tax return, one count of willfully failing to file an income tax return, and one count of making false statements to the FBI and IRS.
Presta allegedly denied receiving gifts and campaign contributions from the red-light company when in reality he had received $5,000 in cash in March of 2018. Furthermore, Presta allegedly filed a false income tax return for the calendar years 2015 and 2018, and failed to file an income tax return for the calendar year 2014.
The indictment was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI; and Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christopher J. Stetler and James P. Durkin.