NOE INDICTED FOR LAUNDERING COINGATE MONEY TO BUSH CAMPAIGN

THIS IS MASSIVE – HUGE – MONSTER– TOLEDO BLADE.

Gregory A. White, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, will hold a news conference in Toledo to announce “a major public corruption indictment.”

The U.S. Attorney’s office announced in April that it was investigating Mr. Noe for possible violations of federal campaign finance laws. Sources have told The Blade that authorities believe Mr. Noe gave money to several people who then contributed to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

A number of people have testified before a federal grand jury impaneled in Toledo, including Toledo City Councilman Betty Shultz, Lucas County Commissioner Maggie Thurber, and Donna Owens, a former Toledo mayor. Each made contributions at a Bush fund-raiser in October, 2003, in Columbus.

Local law-enforcement sources said investigators are looking at contributions made by people from the Toledo area to the Bush campaign at the fund-raiser, at which the campaign raised $1.4 million.