Washington - A federal jury has convicted a former top aide to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy of lying to hide money he received from agri- businesses regulated by the U.S. Agriculture Department.
Ronald Blackley was found guilty of three counts of lying to hide some $22,000 he received in 1993 from farm businesses that received hundreds of thousands of dollars in USDA subsidies while Blackley was Espy's chief of staff.
The Washington jury's verdict Monday was the latest development in the long- running investigation of Espy by independent counsel Donald Smaltz. Last week, a jury in San Francisco convicted a former executive with Sun-Diamond, the nation's largest fruit cooperative, of giving a set of luggage and a lavish trip to the U.S. Tennis Open to Espy.
Espy, 43, has repeatedly said he is innocent of any wrongdoing. The former congressman from Mississippi resigned from his Clinton Administration cabinet post in 1994 because of the allegations.
In September, Espy pleaded not guilty to accepting some $35,000 in gifts, Super Bowl travel and other illegal favors from companies he regulated. The 39- count indictment also accused him of ordering a USDA employee to falsify documents sought in the probe and of violating strict federal meat inspections laws prohibiting any gifts from the industry.
Espy is expected to go on trial early in 1998.
The jury in the Blackley case found that he tried to conceal payments he received from Mississippi agri-businesses that received more than $400,000 in USDA subsidies during the year Blackley served in his high-ranking position.
Blackley was once "one of the most powerful persons in USDA," independent counsel Smaltz said in a statement.
"This corrupt activity by a senior executive government official undermines the public's confidence in the regulatory process and suggests to the public that government largesse goes not necessarily to those most entitled to it -- but to those who are cozy with the regulators or to those who are willing to purchase it," Smaltz said.
Before being appointed Espy's chief of staff, Blackley operated a private consulting firm that advised companies seeking USDA subsidies.
A USDA internal investigation found that five Mississippi firms -- each involving a former client of Blackley -- successfully appealed to a senior USDA review panel for relief in 1993.
Blackley was an unindicted co-conspirator in a 1996 case in which Brook Mitchell, a long-time Espy supporter, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and defrauding the government of some $700,000 in farm subsidy payments.
Blackley was scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 12 by U.S. Judge Royce Lamberth. He faces a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison and a $750,000 fine.
The special counsel investigating Espy and his former associates has won more than $4.5 million in criminal fines, civil penalties and damages.
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