CrimProf Peter Henning Discusses Asset Taking in Public Corruption Cases

From elpasotimes.com: While it is known that the FBI confiscated money and cars from one El Paso businessman implicated in the ongoing public corruption case, chances are several others have already had their assets frozen by the government, a criminal law expert said.

Wayne State Law University CrimProf Peter Henning said that when a public corruption case involves several dozen people -- such as the one in El Paso -- it is rare to find that only one person has had assets taken away.

"There are others, we just don't know about them," Henning said. "The items were seized either through a sealed indictment or a sealed civil forfeiture."

FBI spokeswoman Andrea Simmons said that while no one has been indicted in the ongoing public corruption case, the FBI cannot talk about whether anyone else had their assets frozen.

Several El Paso defense lawyers who are representing some of the people implicated in the case refused to say whether any of their clients had assets frozen.

Henning said there must to be others besides former Access HealthSource President Frank Apodaca.

"We just don't know who they are yet," he said. Rest of Article. . . [Mark Godsey]