Mayor caught in the act! FBI releases video showing former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon accepting $32,500 cash in bribes from undercover agents

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'Mayor Cannon accepted the $32,500 cash bribe and shook hands on the deal'

• Patrick Cannon has pleaded guilty to accepting more than $50,000 from undercover FBI agents in exchange for access to city planning officials
• He was arrested on federal corruption charges in March 2014
• On Tuesday the FBI released video of their sting operation to net Cannon
• Authorities hope the tapes deter other officials from being bribed  

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The FBI have released videos of former Charlotte mayor Patrick Cannon accepted part of the more than $50,000 in bribes in an undercover sting as 'indisputable evidence of his guilt'.
Authorities hope the release of the tapes acts as a deterrent to any other officials who may be corrupted by greed.
Cannon, a Democrat who rose from the city's public housing projects to become a successful businessman and politician, pleaded guilty to accepting more than $50,000 from the undercover agents and a Charlotte businessman.
He accepted cash, airline tickets, a hotel room and the use of a luxury apartment as bribes - and solicited more than $1 million - more, according to police.

FBI releases surveillance video of former mayor of Charlotte accepting bribes

Caught red-handed: The FBI say this footage, taken by a hidden camera, shows former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon accepted a suitcase with $20,000 cash inside from an undercover agent

Cannon’s guilty plea was on a single count of honest services wire fraud, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The FBI uncharacteristically released 17 minutes and 42 seconds of video and audio files to show the depth of their operation to expose Cannon, The Charlotte Observer reported.
While working with the undercover agents, Cannon touted his close relationship with Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and a trip to the White House to meet with President Barack Obama and other administration officials, according to the complaint.
Corrupt: Cannon was arrested on federal corruption charges in March 2014
Corrupt: Cannon was arrested on federal corruption charges in March 2014
At one point, an undercover agent said to Cannon: 'You're operating at quite a level Patrick.'
Cannon, a longtime radio show host and the founder of E-Z parking, a parking management company, was elected mayor in November 2013, replacing Anthony Foxx, who was named Transportation Secretary by Obama.

He was arrested just six months later, in March 2104.
According to the criminal complaint, FBI agents posing as commercial real estate developers paid Cannon on five separate occasions between January 2013 and February 2014.
Cannon accepted cash in exchange for access to city officials responsible for planning, zoning and permitting.
On the last occasion, Cannon accepted $20,000 in cash in the mayor's office.
This act was captured on secret cameras and released in the tapes this week.
A female agent who cannot be seen on camera can be heard negotiating with Cannon and presenting him with a suitcase full of cash.
Cannon is reluctant to take the suitcase because the woman had walked into his office with it.
The two then organize for him to pick it up from her en route to the airport. The investigation began in August 2010 after a tip from a local undercover officer about public corruption. At the time, Cannon still held an at-large seat on the Charlotte City Council. He was first elected to the council in 1993 at age 26, becoming the youngest council member in the city's history.

Sting: In another tape, Cannon (right) is seen meeting with another undercover agent (left), who presents him with $12,500 cash on a table

Sealing the deal: At the end of the video, the two shake hands after the money - still on the table - is exchanged

Canon, the Mayor at the time, is seen here placing the piles of cash into a folder once the agent steps away

When he was 5, his father was found dead of a gunshot wound outside a vacant school. He was raised by his mother, Carmen, who worked on a truck assembly line. They lived in housing projects.
After graduating from South Mecklenburg High, he earned a degree in communications with a minor in marketing from historically black North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro.
McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor, said he was saddened and angered by the charges. He said he had known Cannon's family for more than 30 years.
'But more than anything, my heart is broken for the city of Charlotte,' McCrory said. 'This is not the city that I know, served and love. This alleged behavior is inexcusable and cannot be tolerated.'
McCrory's older brother Phil McCrory was a mentor to Cannon in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. Their relationship grew into a strong friendship, according Karen Calder, the group's chief executive. Cannon was even a groomsman in Phil McCrory's wedding.
According to the complaint, Cannon also accepted $12,500 from an undercover agent to help him develop a feminine hygiene product called 'Hers.'
In exchange, Cannon offered to help the agent — posing as a business manager for a venture capital company — get the necessary permits to open a nightclub.
Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon is sworn in before testifying in Mecklenburg County court Wednesday, March 16, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. Cannon resigned after he was arrested in 2014

Former Charlotte Mayor Patrick Cannon is sworn in before testifying in Mecklenburg County court Wednesday, March 16, 2016 in Charlotte, N.C. Cannon resigned after he was arrested in 2014

Cannon later had a discussion with the undercover agent, apparently attempting to clarify that the money was strictly seed money for the "Hers" product and not payment for his help in opening the nightclub.
'OK, so I mean, 'cause I'm not, I'm not one of those Chicago or Detroit type (of) folk,' Cannon told the agent, apparently referring to high-profile corruption cases in those cities.
Cannon ended the conversation by saying he looked good 'in an orange necktie, but not an orange suit,' according to the complaint.

When the agent set up two later meetings to discuss the money and give Cannon an opportunity to return it, Cannon did not to show up, the complaint said.
During his campaign, Cannon promoted plans to create jobs in a city of 760,000 people that has become one of the nation's leading banking and energy centers.
In May, two days after Cannon announced he was running for mayor, the first undercover agent introduced him to a second undercover agent posing as a developer from Las Vegas. The second agent told Cannon he was interested in developments along a streetcar and light rail line being built in Charlotte. Cannon provided the proposed routes and stops, according to the complaint.
Cannon agreed to fly to Las Vegas to convince a group of potential foreign investors to invest in the company purportedly owned by the second agent. Even though the two had known each other only about a month, Cannon agreed to tell the investors he had known the agent for years.The complaint said Cannon acknowledged the story he would tell investors was false, saying, 'Well, if it's made up, it really doesn't matter.'

Happier times: Cannon is pictured here in November 2013 speaking with local media in Charlotte

Cannon and the second agent also discussed compensating Cannon for his part in the scheme, and Cannon suggested that he receive a campaign donation before he made the trip to Las Vegas.
Instead, the agent agreed to pay for Cannon's trip to Las Vegas, plus $6,000 cash for spending money for his wife. The Cannons received the first $1,000 when they arrived in Las Vegas; they received the other $5,000 after Cannon gave his presentation to the purported investors.
Thomas Mills, a longtime Democratic consultant in North Carolina, said Cannon "probably needs to step down and the sooner the better."
But Mills said he's doesn't believe Cannon's arrest will place additional damage upon North Carolina Democrats, who have suffered heavily from electoral losses in 2010 and 2012.
"Charlotte has always been a bit of its own entity. It would be more of a problem if it were coming out of the General Assembly or out of Raleigh," he said.
A couple of city leaders said it was up to the mayor to decide whether he should resign.
'I found out about what was going on and I was devastated for Charlotte,' City Councilwoman Claire Fallon said. 'I ache for my city.'

Credit: mail

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