State Sen. Ulysses Currie earned at least $207,000 from a local grocery store to facilitate transportation projects and push legislation on its behalf, according to portions of a federal affidavit used for a search warrant of his home unsealed Thursday.
The Prince George?s County Democrat reported $153,000 in income from Shoppers Food Warehouse and its parent company, SuperValu, on his tax returns for 2003 through 2006, but his bank records indicate he continued to receive payments totaling more than $54,000 through 2007, according to the document.
In December 2004, Currie received seven checks for $3,416 each from SuperValu, six on sequential business days.
“After December 2004, Currie?s next payment from SuperValu was a check dated July 15, 2005, suggesting that the six sequential payments were actually prepayments to Currie for the six months from January 2005 through June 2005,” wrote FBI Special Agent Steven Quisenberry.
The information was contained in portions of an affidavit previously redacted at the request of Currie?s attorney, Dale Kelberman. U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis released the information Thursday in a legal agreement between Kelberman and several news organizations including The Baltimore Examiner that will keep some information in the document permanently secret.
Currie listed the income on his tax returns relating to a consulting business operating out of Shoppers, but did not include it on required financial disclosure forms with the General Assembly. Currie, a retired educator who chairs the powerful Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, is under investigation for mail and wire fraud and the deprivation of “honest services,” according to the affidavit.
Currie, 70, has had 320 phone contacts with employees of the Lanham-based chain and SuperValu since 2004, according to the affidavit. Documents released by several transportation agencies under federal subpoena showed Currie facilitated several road improvement projects that benefited Shoppers stores across the state.
Currie also lobbied for a bill to allow one Shoppers store to transfer its liquor license to another, and fought tax legislation that would negatively affect retailers, Quisenberry wrote.
Most of the affidavit, used in a May 29 raid of Currie?s District Heights home and Shoppers headquarters, was released Tuesday at the request of the media. Kelberman unsuccessfully argued that Currie?s privacy outweighs the public?s right to scrutinize records related to the investigation.
Kelberman did not return a call by press time.
