Wilkerson finances get more scrutiny

FBI subpoenas check-cashing firm for records

Dianne Wilkerson used the firm's stores to cash checks.

The FBI is digging deeper into former state senator Dianne Wilkerson's finances, subpoenaing records from a chain of check-cashing stores in Boston as part of its ongoing corruption investigation.

Wilkerson, who resigned last week after her federal indictment on attempted extortion charges, occasionally cashed checks at All Checks Cashed, a national chain that operates seven stores in the Boston area, according to two of the company's officers.

The company's president, Richard A. Barr of Northfield, Ill., confirmed this week that the FBI recently subpoenaed all of the company's records involving transactions by Wilkerson.

"We are cooperating with the authorities," Barr said, adding that the company keeps records of all of its transactions and had turned over copies of all of the checks that Wilkerson cashed at its stores.

FBI spokeswoman Gail Marcinkiewicz declined to talk about the subpoena, saying, "This is an ongoing investigative matter."

Boston attorney Max D. Stern, who represents Wilkerson, declined to comment on the subpoena or discuss why Wilkerson cashed checks at a store in stead of a bank.

One law enforcement official said check-cashing stores, which charge customers higher fees to cash checks, are a way for customers to stay out of the financial mainstream. There is less of a paper trail, so it is easier to hide personal checks cashed at the stores, as opposed to at a bank.

But Barr said check-cashing services are routinely audited by state and federal regulators and are often unfairly criticized.

"People use us obviously for convenience; we're like 7-Eleven," Barr said, noting that the stores are open early in the morning, late at night, and often on weekends.

As for Wilkerson, he said, "I cannot imagine why she wouldn't use a bank."

Wilkerson, a Roxbury Democrat who had served in the Senate for 15 years, is accused of accepting $23,500 in bribes from a cooperating witness and undercover FBI agents to help secure a liquor license for a nightclub in her district and to push legislation paving the way for a Roxbury development.

FBI photographs of Wilkerson allegedly stuffing a $1,000 bribe into her bra during a meeting at a Boston restaurant were filed in court when the then-senator was arrested Oct. 28.

The investigation also resulted in the Nov. 21 arrest of Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner on charges that he accepted a $1,000 payment from a nightclub owner referred to him by Wilkerson, then lied about it to federal agents.

Both Wilkerson and Turner have proclaimed their innocence. The FBI has also sent numerous subpoenas to Boston City Hall and the State House seeking records involving liquor licenses and developers.

Wilkerson said she was indigent and could not afford to hire her own lawyer, prompting a federal magistrate judge to rule this week that Stern may continue to represent her at taxpayer expense, at the rate of $100 an hour.

Idalia Flores of Dorchester, who is vice president of All Checks Cashed, declined to comment on whether Wilkerson was cashing payroll or personal checks at the stores.

"I wouldn't say she was a regular customer," Flores said, adding, "she didn't do anything out of the ordinary."

Flores said that customers are charged a 1 percent fee on payroll checks and various fees on personal checks and that it is not unusual for doctors, lawyers, and even professional sports figures to cash their checks at her stores.

"Some people live paycheck to paycheck," Flores said, noting that some customers prefer to pay the fee at a check-cashing store, rather than deposit a check at a bank and wait days for it clear before they can get the cash. "People use our services for all different reasons."