Former Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox
Fox and prosecutors agreed to a plea deal, according to court documents. The government is recommending a three-year sentence. U.S. District Judge Mary Lisi, who must accept the agreement, has scheduled a June 11 hearing.
According to court documents, Fox admitted to taking $53,000 in bribes in 2008 to obtain a liquor license for the Shark Sushi Bar and Grill near Brown University while vice chairman of the Providence Board of Licenses. He also confessed to illegally transferring $108,000 from his campaign account to his personal account in 2010, and not reporting his ill-gotten gains in his 2012 federal income tax report.
"When you ask people to support your campaign and you use the funds for something else, you've lied to them," U.S. Attorney for Rhode Island Peter Naronha told reporters. "There's no other way to say it. You've committed fraud."
Fox, 53, was House majority leader from 2002 to February 2010, when he became the nation's first openly gay house speaker. He resigned as speaker and did not seek re-election last year after law-enforcement raids on his State House office and his Providence east Side home.
"This is a sad day for Rhode Island; this situation is unacceptable," said Gov. Gina Raimondo. "These events are deeply troubling, and we owe it to the citizens of Rhode Island to do better. Elected officials must always uphold the highest ethical standards -- people deserve honest government."
As speaker in 2010, Fox helped shepherd a $100 million loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corp., backed by the state's moral obligation, to former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling's video-game company, 38 Studios. Two years later the company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and shuttered, leaving taxpayers with the bill.
