WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court panel has upheld the criminal convictions of former Philadelphia Treasurer Corey Kemp, two ex-Commerce Bank executives, and two others in a wide-ranging city corruption and pay-to-play case that involved municipal bonds. In a 78-page opinion issued Monday, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia concluded that the district court jury was reasonable in convicting of multiple criminal counts Kemp, Glenn Holck, former president of Commerce Bank/Pennsylvania, Stephen Umbrell, former Commerce regional vice president, Detroit businessman Lavan Hawkins, and Janice Renee Knight, the girlfriend of the late bond lawyer Ronald A. White.The convictions stemmed from a case in which Kemp was charged with having taken illegal payments, loans, and other gifts from White, Holck, Umbrell, and others in return for steering city bond deals, other business, and preferential treatment to them or firms that they favored. White, who died of cancer in November 2004, soon after charges were filed against him, used money and gifts to gain control over Kemp and then pushed him to choose specific underwriters and law firms for the bond deals of the city and its authorities. In return, some of the firms gave White business or contributed money to charitable organizations he controlled.Holck and Umbrell extended a series of loans to Kemp and his family members, through Commerce Bank, that otherwise would not have been available to them, in return for preferential treatment. Hawkins funneled bribe money from White to Kemp. Knight, who was the nominal owner of printing company RPC Enterprises, ensured RPC was chosen to print the documents for the bond deals.A grand jury handed down a 63-count indictment against the five in November 2004. A jury trial was held in early 2005, and in May of that year, the jury handed down its verdict against all five defendants. The defendants challenged their convictions on many grounds in an appeal.Kemp was convicted of conspiracy, seven counts of wire fraud, 11 counts of mail fraud, one count of attempted extortion, one count of extortion, two counts of making false statements to a bank, and four counts of filing a false income tax return. He is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.He claimed the government failed to present sufficient evidence to support the convictions, but the appeals court panel said, “The government overwhelmingly proved that White showered Kemp with gifts and that Kemp permitted White to wield an untoward influence in selecting which companies would be selected for or excluded from bond teams.” The panel also said that it was clear Kemp participated in a scheme with his friend, Rhonda Anderson, to set up a business, under which they would track down local owners of unredeemed bonds and attempt to help them cash the bonds for a share of the money.Holck and Umbrell were convicted of conspiracy and two counts of wire fraud. Holck was sentenced to 28 months in prison and Umbrell to 27 months. They have been out on bail pending the decision on their appeal. They alleged, among other things, that they should not have been convicted under a bribery of honest services fraud because it was not part of the indictment. The court disagreed.Hawkins was convicted of one count of wire fraud and three counts of perjury, and was sentenced to 22 months in prison. Knight was convicted of two counts of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was sentenced to five and a half months. They also have been out on bail pending appeals of their convictions, which the appeals court panel also rejected.All five of the defendants argued that their convictions should be overturned because of the handling of a juror who was dismissed during the trial for an alleged bias toward the government. But the panel disagreed, concluding, “The district court acted within its discretion.”
