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June 17, 2016

Rowland loses appeal on campaign fraud conviction

Former Gov. John G. Rowland PHOTO | Steve Laschever Former Gov. John G. Rowland has lost his appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York.
By Joe Cooper

Former Gov. John G. Rowland has lost his appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York. The court ruled Friday that Rowland was properly convicted of trying to conceal his roles in two Congressional campaigns.

In their ruling, the appeals court judges said Rowland was properly convicted because he created or participated in the creation of documents that misrepresented—or “falsified”—his relationships with the Congressional candidates, Lisa Wilson‐Foley and Mark Greenberg, and he did so with the intent to impede a possible future federal investigation.

The ruling means Rowland, unless he appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, must serve the 30-month sentence handed down by U.S. District Court Judge Janet Bond Arterton in March 2015. He was also fined $35,000 — the same amount he was paid for his campaign services — and will undergo three years of supervised release after serving his sentence.

It would be Rowland's second time in prison. In 2005, after resigning during his third term, he was sentenced to a year in prison for committing honest services fraud and tax fraud — relating to his acceptance of free services at his home from state contractors.

Prosecutors in the recent trial alleged that Rowland had conspired with U.S. House of Representatives candidate Lisa Wilson-Foley and her husband Brian Foley to conceal his involvement as a campaign consultant by having an attorney for Foley's nursing home business pay him under the terms of a fictitious contract.

Prosecutors also alleged that Rowland approached U.S. House candidate Mark Greenberg in 2009, presenting a sham contract that stated Rowland would work for an entity or charity run by the candidate. Greenberg ripped up the draft contract and never hired Rowland, according to court files.

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