Maryland state Sen. Ulysses Currie had 320 phone contacts with employees of Shoppers Food Warehouse and its parent company since 2004, according to an affidavit for a search warrant served on the lawmaker?s home made public Tuesday.
Currie mostly communicated with Shoppers executives responsible for real estate development and store construction, according to the document unsealed at the request of several news organizations including this reporter for The Baltimore Examiner. The affidavit is the most detailed account of the federal investigation into Currie?s employment with Shoppers ? which he did not include on required financial disclosure forms ? to date.
“During the time period that Currie received payments from SFW and Supervalu, Currie voted on a number of bills that impacted, or would have impacted, the grocery industry and therefore, SFW and its parent company Supervalu,” wrote FBI special agent Steven Quisenberry. “Based on the facts set forth in this affidavit, it is my belief that Currie used his official position and influence in connection with such legislation and in certain business transactions involving the State of Maryland, in ways that benefited or would have benefited SFW and Supervalu.”
A log of items seized during the May 29 raid on Currie?s District Heights home and the Lanham-based Shoppers headquarters included a check to the Prince George?s Democrat. But how much the supermarket paid Currie, 70, has yet to be disclosed.
That information was temporarily redacted from the affidavit at the request of Currie?s attorney, Dale Kelberman. During two hearings Monday, Kelberman argued Currie?s right to privacy outweighs the public?s right to access.
“Senator Currie has not been charged with anything,” Kelberman told federal Magistrate Judge Paul Grimm. “Who knows what the grand jury is going to do over time. There may never be any charges or indictments brought against him at any time.”
Kelberman, who declined additional comment, has until Monday to file an appeal, effectively extending the redaction until the case reaches the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Va.
The affidavit indicates that Currie, who chairs the powerful Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, is being investigated for mail and wire fraud schemes “regarding money and property and the deprivation of the intangible right to honest services.”
Currie was in frequent contact with Shoppers executives in 2005, when the General Assembly passed legislation authorizing the transfer of a liquor license to the College Park Shoppers store, and around the time the supermarket opened a store at the recently redeveloped Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore City, according to the affidavit.
