Bob McDonnell, Maureen McDonnell and GOP Family Values - Lies and Undisclosed Loans

Towne Bank's Will Sessoms

In some ways I was wondering why Will Sessoms, Mayor of Virginia Beach, was a witness in the corruption trial of Bob and Maureen McDonnell.  Now, it appears he was called as a witness not because of his political office but rather his position as a banker.  The Richmond Times Dispatch has focused on McDonnell's financial difficulties surrounding Virginia Beach investment properties.Now, the focus is on the loans that were undisclosed on financial statements submitted to Towne Bank and the lies Maureen McDonnell told to State Police investigators.  Here are excerpts:

Prosecutors put the mayor of Virginia Beach on the witness stand Tuesday and shifted the focus of the trial of Bob McDonnell and his wife Maureen from corruption to fraud.

Shown a copy of a personal financial statement completed by the former governor, William Sessoms, Jr., president of Towne Financial Services Group, said it failed to include loans from either Jonnie Williams Sr. or Starwood Trust.

One of 14 charges against the McDonnells alleges Bob McDonnell broke the law when he submitted a personal financial statement to TowneBank in October 2012 in which he failed to disclose he owed at least $50,000 to Williams.

Sessoms helped the McDonnells and Bob McDonnell’s sister, Maureen McDonnell finance two Virginia Beach properties, one for $249,990 in 2005 and another for $722,550 in 2006.

Shown payment records for the loans, Sessoms, who said Bob McDonnell is a friend he has known since the 1980s, said that from 2009 to 2013 it appeared late fees were imposed 18 times for the smaller loan and 29 times for the larger one.

Late fees were assessed when a loan payment was 15 days late. Sessoms said he had several conversations with McDonnell about not letting a payment get 30 days late or it would be reported and affect his credit score.

Hagan, the state police investigator, said he and fellow investigator James Lyons interviewed the first lady on Feb. 15, 2013 to discuss an aspect of the ongoing investigation into theft from the Executive Mansion by former chef Todd Schneider.

Hagan also said the interview was to learn more about two checks -- a $50,000 payment to first lady Maureen McDonnell as well as a $15,000 check drawn on a Williams account that was written to Schneider's catering company as payment for food at the June 2011 Executive Mansion wedding reception for the McDonnells' daughter, Cailin.

Hagan testified that in the 2013 interview Maureen McDonnell said her husband had known Williams for years and had been a “friend of the family for a long time” -- having met the governor right after he left his service in the Army.

Evidence, however, suggests that McDonnell and Williams did not meet until 2009, when Williams provided the use of his private plane to help McDonnell in his run for governor.

Hagan also said that Maureen McDonnell told him that the $50,000 check she received from Williams in May 2011 was a personal loan, for which she had signed a loan agreement and had been making payments to Williams.

The investigator said that at the end of the interview he asked the first lady to produce the paperwork for the alleged loan, to which the first lady said she had signed the documents and sent them back to Williams.

Hagan testified that Mrs. McDonnell did not know before the interview that she was under investigation. Hagan testified there were no bank records showing Maureen McDonnell making payments to Williams.

There's more, but the overall picture is tawdry at best.