The investment company of a developer who once bribed a congressman and pleaded guilty to campaign violations has now hired a former U.S. senator's firm to lobby in Washington.
J.J. Cafaro Investment Trust LLC, based in Brookfield, Ohio, has hired former Sen. Spencer Abraham's (R-Mich.) firm Abraham and Roetzel LLC to lobby on unspecified energy and economic development issues. Bob Carey, a one-time legislative director for Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) and senior legislative assistant for Abraham, has registered to lobby for the Cafaro company.
John Cafaro's daughter, Capri Cafaro, serves as a Democrat in the Ohio Senate. The wealthy shopping mall developer once admitted to concealing a $10,000 contribution to her 2004 campaign for Congress. The contribution cap was $2,000 for the primary election and $2,000 in the general election.
John Cafaro later spent five days in jail for the offense before he was sentenced to three years probation and fined $250,000. The contribution was in the form of a loan that was never repaid to a law student considering the campaign manager position with Capri Cafaro, which he later took.
Capri Cafaro has said she was not involved with the transaction.
The mall developer had a run-in with the law in 2002 when he received a $150,000 fine and probation for bribing then-Rep. Jim Traficant, the colorful Youngstown Democrat. He testified against the congressman.
