Eric Greitens' nonprofit was 'criminal enterprise,' but committee must end: Mo. lawmaker
An investigation by Missouri lawmakers into alleged wrongdoing by Eric Greitens is over, but its leader believes the former governor and a shadowy nonprofit that supported him deserve further scrutiny.
"Missourians deserve a full accounting of A New Missouri, Inc., which I have come to believe was a criminal enterprise from its inception — designed to illegally skirt donation limits and conceal the identities of major donors to Eric Greitens and ballot initiatives relating to right-to-work that were supported by the former governor," Republican Rep.
Jay Barnes wrote to his colleagues in a letter announcing the end of his committee's work.
Greitens resigned June 1 after several scandal-marred months ended the ambitious politician's tenure as Missouri governor.
The legislative committee investigating Greitens began its work by looking into allegations of sexual misconduct against the former governor.
In January, Greitens admitted he had an extramarital affair with a hairdresser but denied blackmailing her with a partially nude photograph of her bound to exercise equipment in his basement.
The investigation expanded into Greitens' political fundraising tactics.
Lawmakers had concluded that Greitens lied to the Missouri Ethics Commission about a list of donors his campaign obtained from The Mission Continues, the pro-veteran nonprofit Greitens helped found in 2007.
The probe also looked at A New Missouri, Inc., a "social welfare" nonprofit created by Greitens campaign aides to advocate for the governor's agenda.
A New Missouri is not subject to the same campaign finance disclosure laws as Greitens' campaign committee, lending the nonprofit an air of secrecy.
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Barnes clearly had some misgivings after delving through mountains of paperwork and interviewing witnesses, including a former Greitens campaign consultant.
But Barnes, a Republican representative who is termed out and not running for Senate, said he does not think further investigation of A New Missouri falls within the General Assembly's constitutional authority, which includes passing legislation, budgeting, overseeing state agencies and impeaching the governor.
"Legislation does not fit because I believe A New Missouri's activities are already illegal under Missouri law.
Budgeting does not fit this Committee because we have another Committee dedicated to that purpose," Barnes said.
"Oversight of state governmental entities does not fit because A New Missouri, Inc.
was not a governmental entity.
And impeachment no longer fits because Greitens resigned.
Accordingly, this Committee is not the appropriate entity for further investigation.".
"I understand this may disappoint some of you — and some in the public — who demand further accountability for Eric Greitens," Barnes continued.
"But we cannot investigate alleged illegal activity by someone else with actions of our own that are either illegal or create problematic precedent for future legislators.".
Barnes said "at least" three entities in Missouri government could have the appropriate jurisdiction: Attorney General Josh Hawley's office, Cole County Prosecutor Mark Richardson's office, and the Missouri Ethics Commission.
Barnes wrote that he plans to file a complaint with the ethics commission in the near future against Greitens campaign committee and A New Missouri.
Looking back, Barnes said the now-defunct committee likely would have moved to recommend impeachment of Greitens.
In Missouri, officials can be impeached for a variety of misdeeds, including "moral turpitude," criminal activity and misconduct in office. .
"Although we never voted on it, I believe the evidence was such that a super-majority of our Committee was prepared to vote that there was good cause to believe Greitens engaged in multiple acts constituting crimes, misconduct, and acts of moral turpitude warranting the filing of articles of impeachment," Barnes wrote.
Barnes flagged previous claims Greitens made publicly that the woman with whom he cheated on his wife might have dreamed up their encounter and that a videotaped deposition of the woman was "exonerating.
"Both statements by Greitens were slanderous," Barnes said, reiterating the committee's previous unanimous finding that those two statements by the former governor also were "wholly untrue.
The committee's second report looked into how Greitens' campaign obtained donor data.
This sequence of events was the subject of the second of two felony charges filed against Greitens, who maintained that he was not a criminal.
"Based on the documents in our possession, I believe Eric Greitens faced a near certain criminal conviction in the now dismissed case on tampering with computer evidence," Barnes wrote.
"In addition to what was already publicly known, the Committee possesses a document showing that Greitens originally obtained the donor list from The Mission Continues under false pretenses.
That document presented the possibility that additional charges for fraud may have been available to state or federal prosecutors.".
Barnes also noted that Greitens "may have engaged in criminal fraud in a grant application," according to documents that "also show Greitens spent up to $66,600 of grant funds for political purposes not authorized by the grant.
Additional documents obtained from Greitens campaign "contain significant circumstantial and direct evidence of illegal activity" and "tend to show that those in charge of the Greitens' campaign had a scheme to hide donor identities and attempt to funnel donors to," a nonprofit, Barnes wrote, "if a potential donor's identity would either be politically troublesome or they were otherwise prohibited by federal or state law from contributing to the campaign.
Greitens' use of a secret messaging app for government business, alleged public corruption by an unnamed member of Greitens' transition team, additional allegations of sexual misconduct and alleged misuse of public funds for Greitens' communications and social media were also on Barnes' radar, according to the memo.
Barnes even questioned the veracity of "Resilience: Hard-Won Wisdom for Living a Better Life," a best-selling book Greitens wrote.
Greitens had his first encounter with the hairdresser while he was promoting the book, which purportedly stemmed from letters between Greitens and a fellow Navy SEAL. .
"This appears to be false," Barnes wrote.
"The original manuscript for the book was likely written by one of Greitens' assistants, and it was only after that manuscript was complete that Greitens began editing the book into a series of 'letters.' There is also no public record of Greitens' friend being arrested or charged with a crime in the time period in which Greitens' claimed.".
A lobbyist who acted as Greitens' personal spokesman over the past several months was unaware of any current spokesman for Greitens and said he was not aware of a way to reach the former governor.
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