A federal judge issued an arrest warrant Wednesday for Joe Waldholtz - the missing husband, aide and former campaign treasurer of Rep. Enid Greene Waldholtz, R-Utah.
That came as the Justice Department released affidavits saying Joe Waldholtz is suspected of embezzling at least $2 million from his wife and her family, and another scheme where he wrote checks for $227,500 more than his bank accounts actually held.Meanwhile, KUTV reported that an attorney is now representing Joe Waldholtz and says he knows where Joe is. However, Justice Department officials said they and the FBI knew nothing about that Thursday morning, still do not know Joe's whereabouts and had not been contacted about any possible surrender.
They did note in court affidavits that after Joe disappeared, he used an automatic teller machine at an Amtrak station at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and another at Springfield, Mass.
Waldholtz has not yet been formally charged with any crime. The warrant issued was to compel his appearance before a grand jury in Washington as a material witness about possible check kiting and other financial fraud.
Justice Department sources said seeking him as a material witness buys them more time to build a criminal case against him. If they sought his arrest as a criminal, it would require an indictment within 30 days.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ordered Waldholtz's arrest after the FBI said in affidavits that Waldholtz's disappearance amid questioning of his finances and his likely "access to large amounts of money" to aid in his flight show that a mere subpoena could not compel his appearance before a grand jury.
The warrant now also makes it illegal for anyone to harbor Waldholtz as a fugitive from justice.
In affidavits used to obtain the warrant, FBI Special Agent Kevin Lewis said Joe Waldholtz at the time of his disappearance had access to $2 million in funds jointly held with his wife, but, "Rep. Waldholtz now claims to have no idea where the funds are located."
Sources say that was the remainder of $4 million that Enid's father, Forrest Greene, had provided for Enid and Joe over the past two years - and that most of the rest went into her campaign last year, where she had reported spending $1.8 million of her own money.
Some sources said her father provided the money as a swap with Joe for assets that he said were in a family trust (which did not actually exist). Others said the money came through a series of loans to Joe after he supposedly produced documents showing he could cover them with assets in the family trust if needed.
Charles H. Roistacher, an attorney for Enid Waldholtz, did say the Greenes had provided money for Joe but would not comment further Thursday morning, saying some details of situation still needed to be sorted out. But he said attorneys would likely issue a statement about it later in the day.
Some sources said Joe had told Enid and her family during the campaign that his personal assets were largely tied up in real estate and other items not easily liquidated. He persuaded Forrest Greene to provide $4 million either in a swap for assets or through loans essentially guaranteed by them.
However, the family trust used to help obtain Forrest Greene's money - which Joe called the Waldholtz Family Trust - did not exist, according to Joe's father, Dr. Harvey Waldholtz, who says his family is nowhere near that wealthy.
Joe Waldholtz disappeared Saturday after he took his brother-in-law, Jim Parkinson, to Wash-ing-ton's National Airport supposedly to meet two officials from that trust to help explain financial actions. Joe left Parkinson waiting at the baggage claim to supposedly look for them, and disappeared.
Enid and Joe Waldholtz reported on disclosure forms with the Federal Election Commission that the $1.8 million they provided to the campaign were from Enid's own funds - but much of that appears to have come from money provided by her father, sources said.
Enid Waldholtz has long been circumspect with reporters about sources of money. She said during the campaign that Joe had worked for some of it, she had worked for some of it and that they had been blessed. She has always declined any further information.
Of note, federal election law requires reporting of all loans used for campaign purposes. If they come from individuals, they are limited to only $1,000 per election (as are donations). Loans from banks to a candidate are exempt from that requirement.
Enid Waldholtz reported no loans on her disclosure forms.
Meanwhile, the affidavit by FBI agent Lewis also said Joe Waldholtz is suspected in a check kiting scheme in which he wrote checks for $227,500 more than was actually in his account at First Security Bank in Utah and the congressional credit union.
Lewis questioned if it is a check kiting scheme, allowed when banks or credit unions give immediate credit for a deposited check - rather than waiting days for it to clear the check-writer's bank - which essentially allow temporary use of the bank's money until the check clears and may artificially inflate amounts in accounts.
Acquaintances of Joe said he would use sometimes large balances in accounts to obtain special privileges for large depositors, such as having them instantly honor deposited checks.
The FBI affidavit said that between Jan. 12 and March 2, $1,517,500 was deposited into a congressional credit union account held jointly by Joe and Enid Waldholtz. Except for an initial deposit of $2,500, all of those deposits came from checks drawn on the Waldholtzes' First Security Bank account.
Joe Waldholtz wrote checks to himself from the credit union account in question for $1,745,000 - and deposited all of them at First Security Bank.
Besides the checks he wrote himself, the FBI affidavit said he wrote several others to third parties, "many of which were ultimately returned by the credit union as unpaid" and they "totaled approximately $65,000."
Meanwhile, Enid Waldholtz's Washington office was trying to stress that despite all the problems, she is still functioning as a member of Congress - although she has missed most House floor action since Joe disappeared. But the House was scheduled to vote Thursday afternoon on a bill she has pushed to ban gifts by lobbyists to members of Congress.
Also, some question has arisen over the recent presence in her congressional office of political consultants for the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Eddie Mahe political consulting group. Mahe is a nationally known political consultant who worked on Enid's 1994 campaign and is credited with helping her woo GOP voters away from Independent Party candidate Merrill Cook.
House rules do not allow lobbyists or other consultants to perform official congressional work for members. That helps keeps professional distance between them.
One of the consultants in question, LaDonna Lee, with Eddie Mahe, said she had been in the office off and on in past weeks only as a friend to Enid, not any sort of unpaid staffer.
She said she was originally asked by Enid to help her decide on legal counsel to investigate the financial problems she faced. She said her firm was later hired by those lawyers to help with the case.
She said she was in the office on Tuesday this week to support and help Enid as a friend as she returned to work after announcing she plans to seek a divorce. But she did address a staff meeting, she said at Enid's request, that day simply to thank the staff for its support during difficult times.
*****
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The talk of the town, and nation, and world
The Enid and Joe Waldholtz story is big news. In fact, it is now international news.
The London Radio Network was calling around Salt Lake City on Wednesday, interviewing people for a story in Great Britian. The British join a host of U.S. newspapers and TV and radio networks who are filing reports.
David Magleby, a BYU political science professor, has been interviewed twice by National Public Radio, by several TV networks and a number of national newspapers, including the Los Angles Times, Washington Post and New York Times.
CNN and several network evening news broadcasts have carried reports on the Waldholtzes' troubles.
A number of newspapers and networks have flown in reporters to Salt Lake City to cover the story firsthand.
"I've been having a hard time getting enough sleep," says GOP state executive director Russ Behrmann, "reporters are calling me all hours from all over the place."