Alabama: Massey admits lying to FBI after cooperating

Massey admits lying to FBI after cooperating
Written by Sebastian Kitchen

Gambling lobbyist Jarrod Massey said Monday he lied to the FBI when he started coopera­ting last year.

"I was trying to protect Sena­tor Means and I was trying to protect Senator Preuitt to some degree," said Massey, who will be on the witness stand for a ninth and likely final day today in a federal corruption trial.

Massey, who was a lobbyist for Country Crossing developer Ronnie Gilley, was referring to Larry Means, D-Attalla, and Jim Preuitt, R-Talladega.

Means and Preuitt are among nine defendants in the corruption trial, which accuses casino inter­ests including VictoryLand own­er Milton McGregor of bribing state lawmakers to pass gam­bling legislation.

When asked by McGregor at­torney Bobby Segall whether he lied to the FBI, Massey said, "I did."

Segall loudly responded, "Whew," which solicited an angry response from U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson and an objection from Emily Woods, prosecutor with the U.S. Depart­ment of Justice's Public Integrity Section.

Segall apologized and said the comment was not voluntary.

"I don't want any more apolo­gies and I don't want any more excuses," Thompson said firmly to Segall. Thompson reprimanded Segall several times Monday.

Massey said he realized that lying to the FBI was like perjury even if he was not under oath. He said, when asked by Segall, that he did not know whether that crime of lying to a federal agent had been waived along with some others as part of his plea agreement.

Massey, who has pleaded guilty in the case, wears shackles on his ankles and a maroon jumpsuit while in court.Thompson said he ordered the handcuffs and chains around Massey's waist to be removed so he would be able to handle documents.
Gilley has pleaded guilty.

Misunderstandings

Segall asked Massey on Monday about inconsis­tencies between his account and FBI reports. Segall said there either was a misunder­standing or someone was not telling the truth.

Massey said he did not tell a FBI agent he "schemed" with then-Rep. Terry Spicer, D-Elba, to get a contract with the Business Council of Ala­bama. He also said he did not tell the FBI that he paid Spic­er monthly until 2010 for his help with legislation and ob­taining clients. He said he stopped paying him before 2010.

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Massey said it also was not true that he told the FBI that members of the black caucus in the Legislature are notorious for coming up at the last hour asking for con­tributions.

Segall pointed to other in­consistencies.

At least two defense attor­neys said Monday that Mas­sey has changed his testimo­ny during his time on the witness stand.

"He is difficult to pin down to a story, even within a sentence," said Lewis Gillis, attorney for Sen. Quin­ton Ross, a defendant in the case.

Joe Espy, lead attorney for McGregor, said, "If you're telling the truth, you really don't have a problem remembering."

'Clearly illegal'

Massey said again Mon­day that McGregor was at a meeting where a bribe was discussed. He and Woods were talking about a Feb. 18, 2010, meeting in which Mas­sey, Gilley and McGregor met with Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale. Beason was cooperating with the FBI and secretly recorded the con­versation.

Massey said he was "100 percent" sure that a bribe had been offered to Beason during that meeting between them.

Gilley mentioned the pos­sibility of a public relations job to Beason at the meeting. The men talked about the up­coming vote on a Senate bill that narrowly passed the Senate and died in the House of Representatives.

"We were clearly partici­pating in something that was illegal," Massey said.

Attorneys for McGregor have contended a bribe was not offered at the meeting, but instead was offered a day later at a restaurant in Homewood. In another con­versation recorded by Bea­son, Massey clearly offers the senator $1 million a year through a public relations job.

Also, when asked by Se­gall on Monday, Massey ad­mitted telling his father that the FBI did not necessarily have a "smoking gun" on McGregor.

Espy said there was also new information Monday about Massey and Gilley eating together at Wintzell's Oyster House before meeting with McGregor and Beason in Massey's downtown Montgomery office.

'Lot of cheese'

The prosecution also played a tape Monday of McGregor talking to one of his lobbyists, Tom Coker, who is also a defendant in the case, on March 29, 2010, the day before the Senate voted on the gambling legis­lation. Massey said Coker had been to the Gadsden and Talladega areas, which are represented by Means and Preuitt, respectively.

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In the conversation secret­ly recorded by the FBI, Cok­er told McGregor he was spending a lot of his money.

McGregor responded, "You're delivering a lot of cheese, ain't ya man."

Hurting McGregor

Former legislative analyst Ray Crosby, who was paid $3,000 a month by McGregor while he was working for the Legislature, drafted legisla­tion that would have hurt McGregor and his gambling operations in Macon and Jef­ferson counties, according to testimony and evidence pres­entedMonday.

Crosby is a defendant in the case.

Federal authorities have charged Crosby with draft­ing legislation to favor McGregor and with report­ing back to him on the pro­gress of gambling legislation, even if it was introduced by lawmakers on the opposite side of the issue.

Crosby, who was an anal­yst for the Legislative Refer­ence Service, drafted legisla­tion that would have allowed gambling in Russell County that would have competed with VictoryLand. He also drafted legislation that would have only allowed Class III gambling, which would in­clude table games and slot machines, at Poarch Creek Indian facilities.

When asked by an attor­ney if the Class III gambling bill would have hurt McGre­gor, Massey said, "I assume it would be if he were not au­thorized to do the same."

No gun

Massey said he ducked Ross in March 2010 and did not return his phone calls even though he has pleaded guilty to bribing the senator to vote for gambling legisla­tion. Ross, D-Montgomery, was requesting campaign contributions about the time of the Senate vote on the gambling bill.

"I do not feel like I gave him any contributions where I felt I had a gun to my head," Massey said of Ross's requests.

Massey contributed $15,000 to Ross in 2009, but said he declined Ross's re­quest for $20,000 to $25,000 in 2010 because it was too much, he already felt Ross would vote for the gambling legislation, and that McGre­gor would keep him in line to vote for the legislation.

When questioned by Gillis, Massey acknowledged that he thought $20,000 was too much to give Ross, but was willing to pay other senators $1 million to $2 million.

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Gillis said leaving the courthouse that Ross' vote was not for sale, that they did not discuss his vote and that there had been no dis­cussion of Ross exchanging money for official action.

Gillis talked in court about a comment from Ross about "not feeling the love," which Massey has said was Ross feeling that he was owed money for sponsoring gam­bling legislation in the 2009 legislative session. Gillis said it was just an expression.

Ross has been accused of pushing for campaign contri­butions just before the Sen­ate vote on gambling. Ross called McGregor the night before the Senate vote on the gambling bill, discussed the bill, and asked for a contribu­tion.

But, when asked by Gillis, Massey said there was no certainty the vote would be the morning of March 30, 2010.

He later said, when questioned by a prosecutor, "there was a great likelihood" senators would vote March 30.

Massey said Ross called him March 8 and March 29, but "I did not return those phone calls." When he did see Ross at the State House on March 30, he said Ross was courteous. He said he told Ross they could not con­tribute then, but would con­tribute to him after the vote.

"I did not have a particular agreement with Senator Ross, other than I promised to give him money after the vote," Massey said.

Massey said he told the FBI that he was never told by Ross that he had to give Ross money for his vote.

Massey acknowledged that he was wrong concern­ing previous testimony about the 2009 contributions to Ross. Massey had said he gave Ross $5,000 during a December dinner at Lek's restaurant on Atlanta High­way. Gillis pointed out that records indicate the lunch was Oct. 7 and that the con­tribution was Dec. 2.