Critics: Black Got Sweetheart Deal on Fines
Critics say justice system did favors regarding settlement
RALEIGH (By David N. Bass, Carolina Journal Online) - As jailed former state House Speaker Jim Black mounts a campaign for early release from federal prison, critics contend that the state justice system did favors for Black regarding the settlement of his $1 million fine in a corruption and bribery scheme.
Black was given two years (and offered two extensions) before paying the fine; he was allowed to do so in $500,000 installments. And even though the Matthews Democrat owned more than a dozen parcels of real estate, including prime commercial properties and several lots with homes at Lake Norman, he was not required to sell or take out mortgages on any of them to satisfy the final half of the fine.
Instead, prosecutors and the court let Black pay the second installment by surrendering two parcels of undeveloped land in a Matthews subdivision that was most recently valued for tax purposes at about 30 percent of the value of his outstanding debt.
RALEIGH (By David N. Bass, Carolina Journal Online) - As jailed former state House Speaker Jim Black mounts a campaign for early release from federal prison, critics contend that the state justice system did favors for Black regarding the settlement of his $1 million fine in a corruption and bribery scheme.
Black was given two years (and offered two extensions) before paying the fine; he was allowed to do so in $500,000 installments. And even though the Matthews Democrat owned more than a dozen parcels of real estate, including prime commercial properties and several lots with homes at Lake Norman, he was not required to sell or take out mortgages on any of them to satisfy the final half of the fine.
Instead, prosecutors and the court let Black pay the second installment by surrendering two parcels of undeveloped land in a Matthews subdivision that was most recently valued for tax purposes at about 30 percent of the value of his outstanding debt.
posted by BP News Bureau | 10:00 AM
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