FORMER MONROE COUNTY MAYOR PLEADS GUILTY TO TAX PERJURY

WASHINGTON, DC - John L. “Jack” London, 67, of Key West, Florida, pleaded guilty to one count of tax perjury, Acting Assistant Attorney General John C. Richter of the Criminal Division and R. Alexander Acosta, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, announced today. London, who entered his plea before the Honorable Shelby Highsmith in Miami, was first indicted in May 2004 on charges of tax fraud and making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). On May 19, 2005, London’s indictment was superseded to add as a defendant Monroe County Attorney James T. Hendrick, 57, of Key West, Florida, on charges of conspiring to obstruct and tamper with witnesses involved in the grand jury investigation of London.

London’s plea involved the following facts: That in 1997 London received $29,000, while serving as a Monroe County Commissioner, from a consultant who had been hired by a real estate developer to assist with obtaining building permits from the Monroe Board of County Commissioners; and that London used the money to satisfy an outstanding lien against a residential property he owned in Cork, Ireland. In 2002 and 2003, when confronted by agents with the FBI about his receipt of the $29,000, London misled the investigators regarding the origin of the funds. Beginning in July 2003, and continuing into March 2004, Hendrick allegedly acted as a conduit between London and another individual to concoct a false story as to the true nature of the $29,000 payment to London. Hendrick allegedly did so knowing that the false information would be conveyed to a federal grand jury investigating the matter. Although Hendrick was the Monroe County Attorney at the time, he now serves as the Attorney for Growth Management in Monroe County. Hendrick’s trial is scheduled to begin on September 26, 2005 before Judge Highsmith. London will be sentenced on October 21, 2005.

This case was investigated by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division. The case is being handled by Brenda K. Morris, Deputy Chief of the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, headed by Section Chief Noel L. Hillman, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Clark of the Public Corruption Unit in the Southern District of Florida, Miami Office.

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05-370