By TIM WHITMIRE
The Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. - The agent in charge of ethics at the FBI’s Charlotte bureau was accused Wednesday of lying about two expenses-paid trips to Las Vegas he accepted from a witness in a criminal investigation.
Erik B. Blowers was named Tuesday in a single-count indictment in U.S. District Court in Charlotte. He’s charged with making a false statement in a routine financial disclosure form he filed in October 2000.
“This allegation is from 4 1/2 years ago and involves checking one box on one of the hundreds of forms he files each year,” defense lawyer Chris Fialko said Tuesday. “We’ll see what comes of it.”
According to the indictment, Blowers was lead agent on an investigation of organized gambling and money-laundering in the Charlotte area that began in 1996. He became the handler for cooperating witness David Simonini, a builder of luxury homes.
In 1999, the FBI’s Charlotte office formally opened an investigation of allegations that Simonini was involved in loan fraud and money laundering.
The following year, Blowers took two trips to Las Vegas at Simonini’s invitation and expense, according to the indictment, which estimates the trips were worth thousands of dollars.
In 2003, Simonini pleaded guilty to bank fraud and money laundering; he was sentenced in December to more than four years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $5 million in restitution.
Officials in the Justice Department’s public integrity section in Washington and in the U.S. Attorney’s office in Charlotte declined comment Tuesday.
Charlotte FBI spokesman Tim Stutheit did not immediately return a call Tuesday seeking comment on Blowers’ work status.