THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 20, 1994 TAG: 9409200318
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
A former assistant attorney general will plead guilty to mail fraud for his role in concealing the state pension fund's secret purchase of a real estate firm, federal prosecutors said Monday.
Patrick Bynum could be sentenced to as many as five years in prison and fined $250,000.
Bynum, 50, was a top state lawyer in 1990 when the Virginia Retirement System began secretly acquiring shares of RF&P Corp.
The charge against Bynum is part of a continuing federal investigation into how the VRS and officials of former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder's administration handled the unusual stock acquisition.
The purchase eventually put the VRS in control of Potomac Yards, a valuable undeveloped tract along the Potomac River in Alexandria. Wilder sought to locate a new Washington Redskins stadium on the site before team owner Jack Kent Cooke backed out of the deal.
Bynum cooperated with the investigation and agreed to plead guilty, said Helen Fahey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Bynum's attorney, Dennis W. Dohnal, did not immediately return a telephone request for comment.
Bynum is free pending arraignment in U.S. District Court Sept. 30.
``The investigation is now substantially complete. Further criminal charges are expected,'' Fahey said in a statement.
The federal investigation showed Bynum and others violated various securities fraud, mail fraud and other federal statutes, the statement said.
Bynum's alleged crime stemmed from a newspaper's request for information on the RF&P deal.
Acting on a tip, the Richmond Times-Dispatch filed federal Freedom of Information Act requests in July 1990, asking for documents and information about the VRS buying RF&P stock.
Bynum refused to produce the documents and said some information was exempt from the FOIA statute when it was not, the criminal complaint against him said.
In fact, the VRS had been buying stock since May 1. Bynum, at the direction of others, stalled the newspaper in order to give the VRS time to buy as much stock as possible before the deal became public, the complaint against Bynum said.
KEYWORDS: FRAUD by CNB