Mail Fraud and Wire Fraud—Philadelphia

A story which we first discussed in February has come to a conclusion. In February, we mentioned that four men had been indicted in Philadelphia on accusations that they concocted a scheme to defraud an airport advertising company. Now, two men, Joseph Evans and Joseph Moderski, have pleaded guilty.^[1]

Mr. Evans is the CEO of Sky Sites, Inc., and Mr. Moderski is a consultant.^[2] The former pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud while the latter pleaded guilty to conspiracy, mail fraud, and wire fraud.^[3] They were charged “in a pay-to-play scheme in which they conspired to funnel money out of the company to finance illegal campaign contributions to Mayor Street.”^[4] While the mayor has not been accused of any wrong-doing, “his office was briefly bugged by the FBI as part of a broad corruption probe that focused on city contracts, campaign contributions, and allegations of quid-pro-quo arrangements between elected officials and businessmen.”^[5]

Two other individuals who have been charged in the case, Sky Sites VP Eric Selby and architect Terry Crockett, have already pleaded guilty and were cooperating with the government.^[6]

As outlined by the government, “the scheme involved a $10,000 ‘sham bonus’ paid to [Mr.] Moderski in August 2000 and a phony $30,000 payment to [Mr.] Crockett in 2001.”^[7] The $10,000 covered a contribution made to Mayor Street’s campaign, and the $30,000 invoice for work never done was “used to cover contributions of $10,000 each made by [Mssrs] Selby, Crocket, and Moderski to a PAC run by Ronald A. White, one of [Mayor] Street’s chief fund-raisers.^[8]

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop three additional charges facing Mr. Evans, while Mr. Moderski pleaded to the charges contained in the original indictment.^[9]

---

[1] George Anastasia, 2 Ad Men Admit Pay-to-Play Scheme, Philadelphia Inquirer, Sep. 28, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.