FBI special agents who posed as wealthy real estate investors took the stand in the fifth day of the corruption trial of former Cincinnati Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld. It was revealed that one of the agents had been censured during the course of the investigation.
Day five of the trial concluded the testimony of Special Agent Nathan Holbrook, the agent in charge of the investigation, and saw two undercover agents under the aliases of "Vinny" and "Rob" take the witness stand.
Sittenfeld is charged with two counts of wire fraud, two counts of bribery and two counts of attempted extortion. Prosecutors allege he accepted $40,000 in contributions to his PAC, Progress and Growth, in exchange for support in passing legislation that would help developer Chinedum Ndukwe, who was working as a cooperating witness with undercover FBI agents posing as out-of-town investors. The development in question was at 435 Elm St. downtown, across from the Duke Energy Convention Center.
Two of the three undercover FBI agents were questioned throughout the day on June 27. The first was "Vinny," who made what he called a "cameo" appearance to provide some depth to the story created by the primary undercover agents working with Sittenfeld – "Rob" and "Brian" – as well as to be the person to blame if his colleagues had to deliver bad news, but still wanted to keep Sittenfeld in their good graces.
"I had a persona of a high-balling developer, rich, a little bit rude real estate developer," said the agent, who said he retired 18 months ago but still used the alias "Vinny" to protect his identity.
He testified that he first met Sittenfeld at an Opening Day party in a penthouse apartment rented by the FBI in the AT580 building downtown to serve as a home base as its agents pursued multiple public corruption investigations in Cincinnati. "Vinny" said he was there to meet with a different subject of investigation, but did not specify who.
Here's a full timeline of the case the government laid out against Sittenfeld.
"Vinny" next saw Sittenfeld in a Columbus hotel on Sept. 24, 2019, along with "Rob" and "Brian," where he talked with the then-councilman about wanting to open a sports betting operation at 435 Elm. At that meeting, "Vinny" presented Sittenfeld with $10,000 in the form of two checks for $5,000 apiece, which prosecutors argue was in exchange for Sittenfeld's help in making sure "Vinny" had a monopoly on sports betting in the area.
Those checks are part of a total of $40,000 prosecutors argue was used to buy Sittenfeld's support for moving the 435 Elm project forward. The case stems from Sittenfeld asking Ndukwe to raise $10,000 for him, at which point Ndukwe – who was already working with the FBI as a cooperating witness – brought that to law enforcement.
Sittenfeld's defense attorneys argued the former councilman believed Ndukwe, who they said had asked to be a Sittenfeld fundraiser host, was engaging in a practice called bundling where someone raises money from their personal or professional networks and bundles those contributions to a candidate, sometimes without even donating themselves.
During that Sept. 24, 2019 meeting, Sittenfeld discussed using mechanisms like zoning changes to ensure that any sports betting downtown would be concentrated to a certain area, assumed to be 435 Elm. "Vinny" followed up with a story of his own, about how while in New Jersey he helped a municipality craft a request for proposals for new trucks that all but ensured a friend of his, or at least his persona as "Vinny" the developer, would win the bid by making it so specific that only his friend could fill the order, with requirements like windshield wipers that operated from the top of the window and a cutout for a step on the gas tank.
Questioned by prosecutors, and over some objection by Sittenfeld's lawyers, "Vinny" said the point of his story was to serve as a reflection on Sittenfeld's story about zoning and how city hall can control things.
Under cross-examination by Charlie M. Rittgers, part of the father-son team defending Sittenfeld, "Vinny" testified he had brought up concerns about gambling addiction if sports betting is allowed to flourish on every street corner downtown. Rittgers, pointing to a transcript of the Sept. 24, 2019, conversation, said Sittenfeld said his constituents would not want that either.
Rittgers claimed the concerns for gambling addiction were Vinny's expressed reason for wanting a "controlled environment" for sports betting downtown.
"I wanted them to gamble at my casino," "Vinny" said.
Rittgers responded with that might be what the character of Vinny was thinking, but it's not what the agent "Vinny" said at the meeting: "You never said you wanted a monopoly." To which "Vinny" replied that he did not say that, but only because monopoly was not a word he would use.
Rittgers said Sittenfeld only talked about using zoning to restrict where sports betting could take place after "Vinny" talked about gambling addiction.
The special agent who was known as "Rob" was the final witness to take the stand on Monday, and he as well only went by his alias. "Rob" was the agent Sittenfeld had the most contact with throughout the investigation.
During questioning of "Rob," the prosecution asked him questions that shored up many of the same points made previously by Holbrook and "Vinny": the FBI began investigating Sittenfeld after he asked Ndukwe to raise $10,000 for him; "Rob" offered Sittenfeld $10,000 in cash in the same meeting he asked for support in making sure that 435 Elm was "Cranley-proof," referencing a belief that former Mayor John Cranley had a bias against Ndukwe for supporting his political rival in the past; "Rob" ultimately gave Sittenfeld $20,000 in the form of four checks during a 2018 meeting.
The prosecution also asked "Rob" about a mistake in his personal life that he made during the investigation. "Rob" said, unrelated to the investigation into Sittenfeld, he had a personal sexual relationship with a woman in Cincinnati that compromised the reputation of the investigation, and he received a letter of censure for unprofessional conduct off-duty as a result.
The trial is scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. on June 28, where the third undercover FBI agent, known as "Brian," is expected to take the witness stand.