Arraignment set Monday for DiMasi accountant

January 2, 2009 03:56 PM Email| Comments (4)| Text size – +

By Globe Staff

Richard Vitale, the accountant and campaign treasurer for House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, will be arraigned on Monday, the attorney general's office announced this afternoon.

Richard Vitale

Vitale, 63, was indicted Dec. 18 on charges of violating lobbying and campaign finance laws stemming from work on behalf of a ticket brokers' organization. He is accused of secretly pushing legislation on behalf of the ticket brokers, which included directly lobbying DiMasi and House Speaker pro tempore Thomas Petrolati on several occasions.

Vitale's lawyer, Martin Weinberg, described the charges last month as regulatory offenses and maintained that his client had done nothing wrong.

"This demonstrates that despite a pretty intensive state grand jury there is no evidence of felonies," Weinberg said.

Vitale and his company, WN Advisors, were indicted on 10 counts. The charges include two counts of failing to file timely registration statements; making an illegal agreement for compensation contingent on the passage of legislation; and four counts of making campaign contributions in excess of the $200 maximum per year. WN Advisors is charged with two counts of failing to file timely registration statements and making an illegal agreement for compensation contingent on the passage of legislation.

The arraignment is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in Suffolk Superior Court.

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4 comments so far...

how about we put this scumbag dimasi on trial already?? talk about corruption...

Posted by ur mom January 2, 09 04:34 PM

There's a small matter of evidence. I suspect that if the authorities had any, Mr. DiMasi would have spent some of his holiday time before a magistrate. Fortunately--even if yahoos like ur mom don't get it--we don't indict people because we think they look guilty, or believe they did something wrong, or hear a lot of unsubstantiated and uninformed buzz about what's "really gooing on" from the yahoos of the world. No. We indict only if we believe we have enough evidence to convince a jury that a law has been broken. Oddly enough...this seems reasonable to me.

Posted by chuckster January 2, 09 06:25 PM

DiMasi's time is coming. Perhaps Bosley, Petrolati, Rodrigues and all the others who conduct "pay for play" legislation in return for campaign coffers being inundated with contributions from businessmen and lobbyists will join the speaker in the court dock sometime soon.

Posted by A North End Taxpayer January 2, 09 08:31 PM

They all belong in jail! Thinking they're above the law and everyone else.How about Richard McDonough, he's part of the same gang.

Posted by shand January 3, 09 12:21 PM