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Wednesday, March 26, 2014
News 15 fun facts from the Cannon affidavit
Posted By Erin Tracy-Blackwood on Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 6:35 PM
Forty-eight pages filled with titillating details, condensed here. Enjoy!
1. Mayor Cannon allegedly solicited and accepted $12,500 from an undercover agent to help him develop a feminine hygiene product called "HERS" to be marketed and sold in the U.S. In order to demonstrate his plans for the company, he showed the agent a "rudimentary" PowerPoint presentation. I imagine it looked like this.
2. When Cannon allegedly received the $12,500, it was placed on the table in front of him, and he nervously covered it with a folder. The undercover agent saw his trepidation and closed the blinds in the room. Cannon proceeded to pick up the money stack and fan himself with it, big-baller style.
3. There's an ongoing investigation into another local businessman Cannon allegedly said he used his office to do illegal favors for.
4. On the night former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was indicted for bribery, Cannon allegedly called the undercover agent to insist he wasn't unethical and suggest that maybe he should return the $12,500 HERS investment. He added that he was "not one of those Chicago or Detroit type uh folks... or New Orleans."
5. During this call, he allegedly told the agent he looks good in an orange necktie but not an orange suit.
6. Despite being given numerous opportunities to return the $12,500 - surprise! - he never did.
7. On an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas, Cannon allegedly told undercover agents posing as foreign investors that another investor (again, an undercover agent) built the Metropolitan in Midtown, which Cannon helped secure the zoning for.
8. Ensuring Southern manners were maintained throughout his corrupt dealings, during his Las Vegas trip, Cannon allegedly made his wife get on the phone and thank an undercover agent for a $1,000 bribe of spending money.
9. He allegedly told an undercover agent he could secure an affordable housing grant to sweeten his real estate investment. Classy!
10. On six separate occasions, he requested a key to an agent's luxury SouthPark apartment and was observed entering the residence twice after receiving it. No word on whether he was alone.
11. Cannon allegedly bragged about being very close with (read: close enough to get favors from) Gov. Pat McCrory and State Sen. Robert Rucho.
12. Cannon allegedly claimed he and his wife attended a holiday party with the Obamas.
13. He also allegedly said he was meeting with "all the Secretaries" and President Obama while in Washington, D.C., and planned to tell them his No. 1 priority is the Lynx Gold Line. Because I'm sure John Kerry wanted to know when Charlotte was going to finally get a streetcar into the University Park area.
14. An undercover agent gave Cannon $20,000 in bribe money in a leather fossil briefcase inside the mayor's office. Cannon was allegedly worried about people seeing the agent leave without it, because the agent had to pass through security and scanners to get it into his office. The best cover story they came up with, if anyone asked about where it was, was that the agent forgot to take it with him. As in "Yes, I left my leather briefcase full of $20,000 cash in his office by accident. Silly me, I'm so forgetful!"
15. Cannon decided he needed to come up with a better way to accept his illegal bribes (yeah, I'll say!), so he scheduled a meeting with the undercover agent to discuss options. The meeting was to take place on March 26. How'd that go, Mr. Mayor?
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