FBI: SC Highway Commissioner lied

Posted 7/17/19

Former Transportation Commissioner John Hardee lied and tried to destroy evidence against him.

That’s what the FBI contends in a filing this week.

Accused is the man who represented …

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FBI: SC Highway Commissioner lied

Posted

Former Transportation Commissioner John Hardee lied and tried to destroy evidence against him.
That’s what the FBI contends in a filing this week.
Accused is the man who represented Lexington County on the commission and whose name was given to the expressway near Columbia Metro Airport.
Federal investigators had tried unsuccessfully to prove the son-in-law of one of the state’s most powerful politicians, Sen. Hugh Leatherman, took bribes, too, The State newspaper reported.
Leatherman’s family owns a concrete company. 
Hardee, 71, was charged with trying to destroy evidence in the FBI probe. 
According to the filing, Hardee agreed to plead guilty to a criminal felony charge that he tried to destroy evidence and could face 16 months in prison.
The filing does not reveal how much money Hardee received or what it was for. 
The filing reveals that “Cooperating Witness 1,” or “CW1,” told the FBI he had given “bribes and kickbacks to public officials for infrastructure contracts.”
The filing said:
• CW1 recorded calls, warning Hardee the FBI was looking into the payments.
• In phone calls and a meeting, Hardee told CW1 to claim it was a loan or for “previous work Hardee performed for CW1’s business.” 
 • Hardee told CW1 to destroy emails “before the FBI could find them.” 
Hardee’s attorney Jim Griffin said he and his co-counsel, state Sen. Dick Harpootlian, who represents Irmo in the Senate, will “more fully elaborate on the facts and circumstances of the case” at a future hearing.
The filing said prosecuting Hardee is important “if only to deter other individuals from attempting to interfere in federal investigations.”
Hardee served almost 10 years before the SC Supreme Court forced him off the commission. 

fbi investigation, fbi, sc highway commissioner, john hardee

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