Former Columbus City Hall lobbyist John Raphael pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Columbus Wednesday morning to a single count related to accepting a bribe in 2015 from a firm seeking a Greater Columbus Convention Center food contract while he sat on the center s board.
Raphael pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Norah McCann King to one count of honest services wire fraud. King asked Raphael if he understood that he faced up to 20 years in federal prison, followed by up to three years of probation, could be ordered to forfeit $144,000 he gained from the scheme, pay a fine up to double that amount, and make restitution to any victims of his crime.
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Former Columbus City Hall lobbyist John Raphael pleaded guilty to federal corruption charges on Wednesday. Federal investigators allege Raphael accepted bribes from a food vendor in exchange for securing a favorable contract with the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Raphael served on the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority board and operations committee, and as treasurer. In these roles, the complaint reads, Raphael had access to confidential information that he was prohibited from using for “private or personal gain, including by providing confidential information to persons not authorized to receive this information for private gain or advantage.
According to a criminal complaint, filed in December in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, Raphael billed clients what he called “success fees, which were, in reality, bribes. The kickback scheme spanned from 2013-2015, during which Raphael received approximately $144,000.
Updated: 1:05 PM EST February 3, 2021
COLUMBUS, Ohio A former Columbus lobbyist could spend up to 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in a bribery case.
The U.S. Attorney s Office said John Raphael entered a guilty plea Wednesday to honest services wire fraud in connection to a contract with the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
Raphael was the treasurer for the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority (FCCFA) and also served on its board. That agency ran the Greater Columbus Convention Center.
In 2014, he became a consultant for one of four companies that put in a bid to be a food vendor at the convention center, according to the U.S. Attorney s Office.
John Raphael, the former influential Columbus City Hall lobbyist and one-time political ally to several high-ranking local Democrats, has again agreed to plead guilty to federal corruption charges for billing clients success fees that were really intended as bribes in return for securing public contracts, court documents show.
And for the second time since 2016, Raphael is facing prison this time for up to 20 years for his role in a bribery and kickback scheme he devised and carried out between 2013 and 2015 as a member of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority, the public entity that owns Nationwide Arena, the Greater Columbus Convention Center, a high-rise hotel adjacent to the convention center and another hotel currently under construction.
I started Googling, she said. I went everywhere.
Hawkins eventually wound up with a lawyer from the Legal Aid Society of Columbus. She also obtained information about how to provide her landlord with a declaration that she qualifies for the eviction moratorium put in place by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
More than two months later, she remains in her apartment and is on the verge of having her back rent paid by IMPACT Community Action, a nonprofit group that is distributing Franklin County s share of coronavirus stimulus money, approved by Congress, for rental assistance.
But until the money comes through and her eviction case is dismissed in Franklin County Municipal Court, Hawkins worries about being forced from her home in the midst of a pandemic that has left her jobless.