Jury hears tapes in trial of judge accused of money laundering

Associated Press

LONDON, Ohio - Prosecutors in the trial of a Highland County judge say recorded conversations between the judge and an informant include discussions of an illegal money laundering scheme.

Jurors heard some of the recordings Wednesday in Madison County Common Pleas Court, where the trial has been moved to avoid a conflict of interest among Highland County employees.

The Ohio attorney general's office is prosecuting the case against suspended Judge Jeffrey Hoskins, who is accused of using money from an estate he handled while in private practice for personal expenses and of lying to investigators looking into the allegations.

Hoskins was indicted in March on charges that included tampering with records, theft, falsification and having unlawful interest in a public contract. He has denied the allegations.

Tapes played for jurors were obtained through phone taps, hidden microphones and a wire device worn by informant David Bliss, prosecutors said.

Bliss had been used by the Highland County sheriff, FBI and the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation from November 2004 through January 2006 as a confidential informant in the investigation of Hoskins.

Prosecutor Carol Hamilton O'Brien said that in two of the recorded conversations, Hoskins and Bliss discussed ways to disguise a transfer of money from a bank in England to the United States.

However, one tape showed that Hoskins thought there was a legal way to transfer the money through a real estate deal, and in another he refused payment of money because he thought it would constitute illegal money laundering.

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/16187356.htm