Welcome back to the “Where are the Heroes?” podcast series. I am Beau Johnson, the author of The End of Justice. I am recording this episode on the coast of Mexico, so please excuse the background noise.
In the last episode, I explained how Benjamin Glassman, former United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Kenneth Parker, current US Attorney, lied to the public in 2018 about shredding documents that do not exist and never existed. Moreover, because of their lie, they failed to dignify an admission from PNC Bank that there was no $4 million loan and a finding from the Department of the Treasury as to the same fact. The repercussions were devastating. Glassman and Parker were expected to seek the truth in Ohio, but they avoided the truth like the plague and kept an innocent man in prison.
In this episode, we will discuss my attempts to hold Glassman and Parker accountable for their lies and how the system failed to investigate them. I will also discuss in greater detail the role of Kenneth Parker. I want to be clear about an important point. After some three plus years as US Attorney, Parker, after receiving my direct request that he provide proof of the shredding of these alleged loan documents, has not responded.
In the last episode, I spoke about the inefficiency of the system that is the Federal Government. Unfortunately, the system is problematic when holding public officials accountable for their criminal conduct or gross incompetence. This means the system fails to provide a solution for anyone suffering from abuse or wrongdoing by public officials. Whether Glassman and Parker acted criminally or incompetently, Orlando Carter is still seeking an answer for his unjust conviction and the lie stated by Glassman and Parker about shredding evidence that does not exist and never existed.
Let me explain with a timeline and supporting documents which you will find attached.
· You will recall that in January and March of 2017, I received investigative findings from the OCC confirming that a $4 million loan did not exist between PNC Bank and Carter or his company. These documents were posted in a prior episode.
· I then spoke with Glassman and Parker in 2018 in their Cincinnati office. They began the meeting by proclaiming that the evidence of a $4 million loan had been shredded by the DOJ.
· On December 28, 2018, Glassman responded to our concerns with a letter explaining why Carter was justly convicted. You may recall that he summarily dismissed the significance of what we deemed to be new evidence by the OCC. I uploaded Glassman’s letter in a prior episode.
· Since Glassman and Parker did not help Carter in the least, and without any other recourse, in March of 2020, I filed a complaint against Glassman with the BAR Association at the Supreme Court of Ohio. The BAR Association responded that the proper agency to receive a complaint against a US Attorney was the Office of Professional Responsibility with the Department of Justice.
· So, I filed a complaint against Glassman with the Office of Professional Responsibility. When the OPR responded that they were not the proper agency, I filed a complaint with the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
· None of these agencies assisted and disavowed being the proper party to investigate Glassman’s crime.
· In the summer of 2021, I learned about Parker’s nomination to become US Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio under President Biden.
· In October 2021, I penned an open letter to Biden. I then penned a Press Release concerning a controversy between Butler County and Kenneth Parker as it relates to the alleged $4 million loan.
That same month, I penned a Press Release concerning the nomination of Kenneth Parker with an emphasis on Senator Ted Cruz. Cruz is a member of the Judiciary Committee which was responsible for approving and advancing all nominations for US Attorneys to the full Senate.
· At the end of October 2021, I flew to San Antonio, Texas, to speak with Senator Cruz’ Chief of Staff. My efforts were to no avail. Parker’s nomination advanced from the committee to a full Senate vote and he was confirmed as US Attorney.
· When Parker was confirmed as US Attorney, I sent him a letter on December 6, 2021 and asked that he prove that the DOJ destroyed the alleged evidence of a $4 million loan.
· To ensure that I received an answer, I submitted a FOIA request on December 7, 2021.
· Parker responded to my FOIA on December 20, 2021, by stating that my request would be sent to the Executive Office of the United States Attorneys.
· Since then, I have emailed the Executive Office of US Attorneys several times and have not received a response. The Federal Government remains silent on this issue, which means that Glassman and Parker will not be held accountable until the lie about the shredding of evidence of an alleged $4 million loan is denied.
· Now, since none of the agencies mentioned above were willing to accept responsibility for investigating a US Attorney who lied while in office, I do not expect a different response concerning Parker. However, I wrote to each agency and received no responses whatsoever. The Office of Professional Responsibility, the BAR Association, and the United States District Court never responded to my concerns. Even after I sent subsequent requests for answers, I received nothing.
· Finally, on June 7, 2023, I filed a formal complaint with Mr. Horowitz, the Inspector General for the Department of Justice, through his online portal. I have not heard from Horowitz at all.
Several questions must be asked:
1) What agency is responsible for investigating a US Attorney who lies, especially since the lie prevents the exoneration of an innocent man in prison and contradicts a conclusion of fact from a separate federal agency?
2) Why would Kenneth Parker not willingly review Glassman’s own words and agree to reconsider the OCC finding of fact and admit that the DOJ made a grievous error when prosecuting Carter in 2009?
3) Why did Senator Cruz refuse to discuss with the Senate Judiciary Committee allegations that Parker lied about shredding documents that do not exist? Why would Cruz allow Parker’s nomination to proceed from the committee to the full Senate unchallenged?
4) Why has it taken nearly three years for the Executive Office of the United States Attorneys to answer my simple FOIA Request?
5) Why does the same office refuse to respond to my emails with an update?
6) Why hasn’t the Inspector General of the Department of Justice responded to my complaint against Parker?
7) Is the Federal Government grossly inefficient and, therefore, unable to answer these questions, or is the Government complicit with the lie made by two US Attorneys?
It appears as if no one is responsible for the overall tragedy that is the unjust conviction of Orlando Carter, just as there appears to be no one responsible for any of the numerous agencies or components involved. For example, if it were possible to speak with President Biden directly, and if he were willing to listen to the FACTS of the case, would he obfuscate and deflect the issue, or would he task someone who would resolve the issues once and for all? You see, without one specific person deciding for the Federal Government, the matter will not be addressed.
Now, if an official within an agency of the Federal Government were to listen and resolve at least one aspect of the overall tragedy, that one conclusion could affect other elements. For example, if the Executive Office of US Attorneys were to process the FOIA Request and determine that there were no records proving the shredding of a $4 million loan, then we could use this new fact and leverage a response from other agencies and work toward a conclusion. Yet, when there is complete inertia by the Federal Government, Glassman’s and Parker’s lies will remain uncontested and both truth and justice will be denied.
One must wonder, akin to the corrupt culture of the FBI under James Comey, if the Federal Government refuses to concede to the injustice of the Carter case simply to avoid all repercussions. Given the lengths the FBI concealed the lies concerning collusion with Russia in the 2016 election, why wouldn’t the DOJ simply hide the truth concerning the Carter tragedy?
Let’s look at one of my attempts to hold the “system” accountable and consider the impact. When I first learned that President Biden nominated Kenneth Parker as US Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, I acted quickly. I genuinely believed that Senator Cruz would give my concerns a fair shake and consider the gravity of Parker’s complicity with the lie about shredding of evidence which does not exist. After all, Cruz is constantly fuming and barking and huffing and puffing about this and that. Why would he not do the same about a lie that is easily proved about a nominee for US Attorney concerning a federal conviction and prison sentence that were predicated upon the existence of that very $4 million loan?
Since Senator Cruz aggressively seeks public acclaim as a firebrand, that is, the tough guy seeking truth, I figured he would want to dignify the facts and openly and aggressively condemn the Parker nomination.
Here are the facts relating to Senator Cruz:
1) I provided Cruz with the history of Parker’s lie.
2) I made an appointment and flew to San Antonio and provided the documents and information directly to his Chief of Staff.
3) Cruz’ Chief of Staff provided this relevant information to Cruz.
4) I had already emailed the same information to most of the members of the Judiciary committee as well.
5) When Parker’s nomination cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee without so much as a raised eyebrow, I called Cruz’ office in San Antonio and asked for an explanation.
6) Cruz’ Chief of Staff explained that he could not confirm whether Cruz voted to confirm or deny Parker’s nomination because both the votes within the Judiciary committee and the full Senate were voice votes.
7) I told Cruz’ Chief of Staff that it was rather convenient for a Senator to rely upon voice votes as a means not to document his decisions. I further stated that it was obvious that Ted Cruz advanced the nomination, for there was NOTHING about him addressing the controversy within the committee, Senate, or the press.
What does my experience about Cruz tell us about the system that is the Federal Government? Truth and facts are important when they serve the self-interests of public officials. Since the lie about shredding an alleged $4 million loan was related to a criminal case, perhaps Cruz chose not to investigate the matter. Why? Congressmen and Senators are prohibited by law from getting involved with criminal cases. This means that these representatives passed a law to prevent themselves from getting involved in criminal cases. They, therefore, can avoid controversies associated with unjust convictions. Is this not a convenient tactic?
Thus, a sitting Senator deliberately refused to investigate an ISOLATED issue, the nomination of Parker as US Attorney after he lied to the public about a fact that can be proved. Apparently, a lie made by a nominee for US Attorney that can be verified was deemed too subjective for Cruz and he likely considered any blowback as not worthy of his political interests. Now, if every official within separate agencies that are involved in this case were to think the same, then they would also not be held accountable for their conduct and Carter will never be exonerated. At a minimum, one would think that a Senator or Congressman would determine that a man’s life is worth the time and effort to investigate a single and significant lie made by any public official.
However, let’s presume for a moment that a lie is one of the most difficult things to prove. When both Glassman and Parker were presented with a finding from the Department of the Treasury that validated that a $4 million dollar loan never existed, didn’t they have an incumbent responsibility to investigate - not a previously adjudicated criminal case, by the way - but possible criminal conduct by private and public officials who advanced the existence of that loan years ago? Anyone can see that if Glassman and Parker had done the right thing, people would have called them noble, just, and fair. But they acted cowardly and did the opposite.
People would have considered Cruz as a just person as well. And isn’t this what is needed most? Don’t we want and need people who always seek the truth? At some point, be it a US Attorney or US Senator, officials should pause and establish a credible reason to challenge what is an obvious dilemma, which is that one federal agency says one thing, while a separate federal agency says the opposite. Failure to reconcile two opposing positions between two federal agencies is the failure of the most basic function of government itself.
There is a Supreme Court case I often use to underscore the people’s responsibility to hold public officials accountable for their conduct. Consider the language in Federal Crop Ins Corp v Merrill, 332 US 380, 384 (1947):
…anyone entering into an arrangement with the Government takes the risk of having accurately ascertained that he who purports to act for the Government stays within the bounds of his authority. The scope of this authority may be explicitly defined by Congress or be limited by delegated legislation, properly exercised through the rule-making power. And this is so… even though the agent himself may be unaware of the limitations upon his authority.
Now if we give the words in Merrill sufficient latitude, there can be no doubt that we the people have the burden to make sure that officials do not violate their authority. As such, are we not obligated to hold Glassman accountable for his deceit and incompetence? Was he not exceeding and violating his authority beyond his capacity as US Attorney? Did he not have a burden to adequately consider the OCC letter and PNC Bank’s admission that there was no $4 million loan? Are we not justified under Merrill to ensure Glassman is punished for and that he corrects his indiscretions?
Did the Executive Office of US Attorneys have a responsibility to respond to a FOIA Request in less than three years, especially since this agency simply is confirming what does not exist? Did Senator Cruz, as a member of the Judiciary Committee, have a responsibility to learn of a nominee for US Attorney who lied about a case while he was Assistant US Attorney? Did Cruz have the burden to prevent Parker’s nomination from being advanced to the full Senate?
We must answer in the affirmative for each of these questions.
Let’s pause for a moment and consider my complaint to the Office of Professional Responsibility against former US Attorney Glassman. I encourage you to read this one letter to appreciate the gravity of Glassman’s and Parker’s conduct and lies.
Given the forthrightness of my letter to the OPR, at some point we must pause and look at the panoramic view of what is the Federal Government’s injustice against Orlando Carter. We must remark, with stupefied amazement, that the federal agents did not verify the existence of the $4 million loan or guaranty in 2005 and why Glassman and Parker did not verify the existence of the loan in 2018. The story that is the unjust prosecution of Orlando Carter by glory-hungry public officials is simply irreconcilable.
The impact of the damage caused by the Federal Government, beginning with US Attorney Lockhart in 2005 and now with the current US Attorney Kenneth Parker, has had and will continue to have a devastating impact upon Carter. Let me give you an example.
Presently, Carter is dealing with a federal tax issue. The IRS sent him a significant tax bill based upon the false claim that he had a $4 million loan or guaranty. Ironically, the accounting firm, Clarke, Shafer, and Hackett offered conflicting testimony in and out of court. Carter’s accountant at the time of his trial, Tony Schweier, is on the record that Carter has both a loss and a gain. How is this possible? This is the same dishonest accountant who testified in Carter’s trial that he had a $4 million liability with PNC Bank.
We need only look at the recent correspondence from Carter’s current tax representative to Kenneth Parker to understand the scope of this problem. Now, if Kenneth Parker is not the public official who bears the burden of providing the financials and documents Carter needs to file a proper and correct tax return, then he should give Carter the name of the official who can help. The attached letters from Carter’s tax representative are quite revealing.
This story cannot get any more unreal. No one deserves to go to prison for a loan that does not exist, and no one deserves to deal with the likes of the IRS over a tax liability that does not exist.
Unfortunately, since no current public official is willing to make an easy and courageous decision to challenge prior public officials who represented and supported the false claim that a $4 million loan existed, Carter will not find redemption.
When I publish this specific episode, I will be sending more letters to The Office of Professional Responsibility and to the Inspector General of the DOJ asking for an investigation into both Glassman and Parker. I will also be sending a letter to both Kenneth Parker and the Executive Office of US Attorneys and ask for an update on the FOIA Request.
In the next episode I hope to have a full interview with Orlando Carter. It is time that we heard from him concerning the entire scope of this tragedy.
Until then, may truth reign supreme.
Where are the Heroes?