Phillip Halbert Neilson, who was the Supervisory Senior Resident Agent in charge of the FBI office in Oxford from 1998 through the middle of last year was indicted and the indictment released today. He was indicted for acts affecting a personal financial interest and false statements to a federal agency, the charge being that he had a personal interest in a FBI lease of office space that he did not disclose. A copy of the indictment is here.
This indictment (well, the investigation) is obliquely mentioned in Alan Lange and Tom Dawson’s book, Kings of Tort. The book says that Dawson and the others in the US Attorney in Oxford did not want the Oxford office of the FBI to handle the Scruggs investigation because of mistrust of the Oxford office of the FBI because the agent in charge, Neilson, was under investigation. Now we know what that was about.
The indictment is signed off on by the US Attorney’s office in Baton Rouge and Justice Department lawyers because the local US Attorney’s office recused itself.
The case involves the FBI building out on University Avenue just above Krogers. According to the indictment, Neilson was involved in both the site selection, the lease, and an increase in the lease spaces. The building was constructed by C&G Partnership which later incorporated as C&G Properties, LLC; while its principals are not identified in teh indictment other than by initials (JC, DG, and their lawyer BW), a quick look at the Secretary of State’s web page discloses that C&G Properties was incorporated by member managers John Covington and Dino Grisanti, along with their lawyer Brad Walsh. Here’s the C&G Properties document. There is no suggestion in the indictment that any of the three did anything wrong, and paragraph 21 alleges “NEILSON falsely assured JC, DG, and BW that he had checked iwth an FBI agent and had received approval to own an interest in the Oxford FBI building.” There is a puzzling lack of allegations about what Neilson actually did to get an interest in the building.
What it says is that he had an interest when he negotated at least a part of the lease, had taken money out (as a $50,000 loan, at the same time the other two owners also took out similar amounts), and that there was never a hint of any of this on his required financial disclosure statements.
The Clarion Ledger has run an AP story which says this about the local US Attorney recusal:
The case is being prosecuted by the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General and U.S. Attorney David Dugas’ office in Baton Rouge because U.S Attorney Jim Greenlee’s office in Oxford recused itself.
Update: Underlined clauses added due to confused comments.
Wait. What!??? Were Greenlee and Dawson working together?
Sounds like the Oxford office did not want the Oxford office to investigate because they didn’t trust the Oxford office. Oh my, what a mess. I wonder if they’ll get Dawson for profiting from a book?
I’ll just go write a book about it all.
There’s something funny about an FBI agent getting charged with lying to the FBI.
no doubt, Observer.
I thought everyone said it was South MS.which didn’t prosecute these types of crimes? David Dugas’ office Baton Rouge. What part of Oxford is that in. As I recall the local angents of the F.B.I.office, their employees said “they” won’t take any action against thier boss regardless. Isn’t that like the mob and their boss? So what’s the story on the space? What was it used for causing such distrust as well a need to not report it? F.B.Instigation. Real cowboys.
Interesting. It makes me wish we knew the details of ownership and lessor-lessee interests in the Oxford property occupied by the US Attorney’s office. It was built on one of the most useless pieces of property in Oxford, and suffered from drainage-related issues from the start. Those problems have, I hope and trust, been cured. The county’s land records disclose the name of the owner-of-record, but other “interests,” if any aren’t as apparent.
Paul Quinn up.
Wow, this creates a lot of questions.
Will the IRS get involved at this point?
I also wonder about the banks giving out the construction loans/refinancing. The TAV for the property in 2005 was $1,474,930, less than half of the appraised value. That’s a pretty big discrepancy. Either Oxford has been missing out on taxes or the bank gave out too large of a loan. It’s most certainly the latter, but still interesting.
Sad really, what a stupid way to end your career.
Oh … one more thing I’d like to know a lot more about: how much scrutiny can the General Services Administration stand regarding its build-to-lease operations hereabouts? There’s the FBI Bldg and the US Atty’s bldg in Oxford, the new bankruptcy courthouse in Aberdeen, the ever-confused old post office in Tupelo, the lost-in-the-weeds new federal bldg proposed for Greenville …. There’s a lotta dots out there begging to be connected.
Walsh & Grisanti are partners in Osprey Manangement and Triple G Properties as well. Grisanti was a director in Oxford University Bank ten years ago and a Ford dealership at one time. Walsh is a tax lawyer who also taught at the University. Neilson was a partner in a couple of other companies- JAM Entertainment LLC and Oxford Dependable Dry Storage with undisclosed partners. He was deeply connected in a private business way to his community and apparently benefited from its recent growth and rewards.
loose lips sink ships. talk, neilson, talk.
Someone should look into the way these GSA leases are done. I know people who have wasted a lot of time and money. One case in particular was the Ethridge Building. Much more favorable locations were offered at substantially less rates. Why did it end up in that gully when it could have been on the same plane with the other buildings in the area? That is interesting and they took city parking away from the people who work and shop downtown. A former mayor had the best idea for that space… an amphitheater. What a shame. Never would be Redrocks but sure would have been good for Oxford.