Feds probe Wexler campaign mortgage deal

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla., Nov. 10 (UPI) -- The FBI is investigating former U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler about his campaign's unusual $150,000 investment in a real estate deal, an online publication reported.

Sources told BrowardBulldog.com authorities were trying to determine whether Wexler's campaign engaged in money laundering.

Wexler, D-Fla., surprised the political world in October 2009 when he announced he was resigning to head a Middle East think tank.

"I'm not under any investigation, my marriage is intact, my health is good and thank God, the health of my family is good," the seven-term congressman said when he resigned.

However, Ken Krefetz, owner of Metropolitan Petroleum Co. of Miami, said FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents visited him in December 2008 to ask about Wexler and campaign investment manager Roy T. Amico.

"They were looking at the real estate transaction that the congressman put campaign money into," Krefetz said, noting the agents called the transaction "highly unusual."

Krefetz told BrowardBulldog.com the agents were interested in a $150,000 second mortgage the Wexler campaign held on a $1 million waterfront home owned by Amico and brother Armand in West Palm Beach.

Records indicate the campaign got the mortgage in 2004, repaid it, then got a new mortgage in 2006, the online publication said.

In December, former Wexler Chief of Staff Eric Johnson told BrowardBulldog.com the campaign retrieved the mortgage and a promissory note from the Amicos in January 2004 to secure a $150,000 investment in the defunct Capital Gains Real Estate Consultants.

The campaign did not report the mortgage to the Federal Election Commission even though FEC rules require disclosure.

Roy Amico said he knew of the federal inquiry, but declined to say whether agents questioned him. Wexler also declined to comment through his spokesman.