Federal trial to begin for Alabama's ex-small business chief on fraud charges

BIRMINGHAM, Al.
Jury selection is to begin today in the federal trial of the former di­rector of the Alabama Small Busi­ness Development Consortium who is charged with defrauding the state of more than $7 million.

Maurice Campbell Jr.

Maurice Campbell Jr., of Rain­bow City, is charged with mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering in a 96-count indict­ment issued in March by a grand jury. He is accused of using state money for the benefit of himself and others.
Federal prosecutors also intend to ask that Campbell forfeit more than $7.3 million in cash or prop­erty.
U.S. District Judge Abdul Kallon will preside over the trial at the Hugo L. Black U.S. Courthouse in Birmingham. Assistant U.S. Attor­ney Tamarra Matthews Johnson is the lead prosecutor and Stephen W. Shaw is Campbell's lead de­fense attorney.
Prosecutors and a defense attor­ney last week declined comment on the pending trial.
Campbell was hired in January 2003 as state director of the con­sortium. That group was com­posed of four-year universities in the state -- each with its own small business development cen­ter -- as well as a procurement technical center and an interna­tional trade center. The group was formed to help provide manage­ment and technical assistance to small businesses, and to develop Alabama's workforce.
In February 2005 Campbell in­corporated the private nonprofit Alabama Small Business Institute of Commerce. He also served as the institute's president. The insti­tute's mission was to enhance economic development, increase employment, and reduce business failure in Alabama through busi­ness education and workforce training, according to his indict­ment.
The private nonprofit institute received almost all funding -- more than $7.3 million from 2005 through 2010 -- from the state. The money came from state sources including the state's edu­cation budget. Campbell and others provided less than 20 percent of the state funding obtained by the institute to the public four-year colleges and universities that were mem­bers of the consortium, according to the indictment.
The indictment states Campbell and others created a number of other companies or groups into which state funds provided to the institute were deposited and later spent.
Three other people were charged and have pleaded guilty in the case: the bookkeeper for the institute, Mickie Kelso; the exec­utive director of the institute, Ben­jamin Johnson; and the former head of marketing for the consor­tium, Lauren Young.
Kelso, Johnson and Young are to be sentenced in hearings set for early next year.
Campbell got direct access to the bank accounts of the institute through check cards, according to the indictment, "and would and did use those checkcards to make over one million dollars in pur­chases including jewelry, clothing, personal services, food, lodging, and gas."
Among the purchases listed in Campbell's indictment were made at Reed's Jewelers, Jos. A. Bank, Ultra Diamonds, Neiman Marcus, and Hooters.
The first four questions -- of 18 total -- on a proposed list of ques­tions by federal prosecutors to ask the pool of potential jurors is whether they or an immediate family member have ever worked at a Hooter's restaurant and whether they have ever visited one of the restaurants.
Campbell also used state fund­ing through the institute "to issue tens of thousands of dollars in checks to women called the "Little Sisters" and to make purchases for the "Little Sisters," according to the indictment.
Court documents do not indi­cate who the "Little Sisters" are. But a few more details about the expenditures on the women are in the court documents of Camp­bell's three co-defendants.
Campbell was using institute funds to take the "Little Sisters" to dinner, shopping and write them checks, according to Young's plea agreement. "Young knew that the Little Sisters had not performed any services for the Institute or served the Institute's mission in any way to justify the money, meals, clothing, jewelry and other items they received," according to Young's plea agreement.
In his plea agreement Johnson states that among the purchases he was directed by Campbell to make for the "Little Sisters" was the purchase of bracelets using Johnson's institute checkcard. "The Incorporator (Campbell) di­rected that those bracelets be en­graved with the words "Lil Sister" and "Sir William,"' according to Johnson's plea agreement.
"The (institute) incorporator (Campbell) also directed Johnson to purchase items from Coach for the "Little Sisters" using Johnson's institute checkcards," according to Johnson's plea agreement.