Former LCB official faces charges of accepting kickbacks
HARRISBURG — Federal prosecutors on Monday filed charges against a former marketing director of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, saying he had defrauded the public of his honest services through a scheme of bribes and kickbacks.
Prosecutors said James H. Short Jr., 50, of Harrisburg, received allexpenses-paid golf trips, cash, gift cards, meals and other benefits from a distributor and a manufacturer of alcoholic beverages during his time supervising the selection of products for sale in Pennsylvania state liquor stores. He was charged with honest services mail fraud.
Mr. Short failed to disclose the gifts in the annual financial reports he was required to submit to the State Ethics Commission, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors filed a plea agreement, signed by Mr. Short and his attorney. They said a date had not been set for Mr. Short to plead guilty.
“He accepts responsibility for what he did,” Mr. Short’s lawyer, Christopher Hall, said.
Prosecutors said the case is part of a continuing investigation by the Harrisburg office of the FBI.
In March 2014, the State Ethics
Commission said that Mr. Short and two other former top LCB officials had violated state ethics laws by improperly accepting gifts from vendors doing business with the LCB. Mr. Short was ordered to reimburse the state $13,586.92.
Charging documents filed Monday say that between 2002 and 2012 Mr. Short received a “stream of benefits” from two companies. In one instance, in February 2010, representatives of one company chartered a jet to fly Mr. Short and representatives of the two companies to Bonita Springs, Fla., for an all-expensespaid golf trip, prosecutors said.
During the three-day trip, representatives of the two companies paid for all of Mr. Short’s food, lodging, expenses and hospitality. Upon his return, Mr. Short took steps for a product of one of the companies to be listed and sold in state liquor stores. That listing was approved by the board.
The charging documents say that in February 2012, Mr. Short had an envelope mailed to one of the companies notifying it of the board’s decision to list its products.
In a statement Monday, the Liquor Control Board said it has made “sweeping changes” to its employee code of conduct and created a vendor code of conduct to prevent such actions from happening again.
“The charge, while based on conduct that occurred several years ago, reinforces our commitment to operating with transparency and openness,” the statement said.