EIDC STAFF SUBPOENAED IN INVESTIGATION EX-PRESIDENT WON'T APPEAR.Byline: Beth Barrett Staff Writer Current and former officials and staff members of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. have been subpoenaed to testify To provide evidence as a witness, subject to an oath or affirmation, in order to establish a particular fact or set of facts. Court rules require witnesses to testify about the facts they know that are relevant to the determination of the outcome of the case. by a grand jury investigating the agency and its ousted president, officials said Friday. Those who had received subpoenas or were familiar with the probe said the criminal investigation appeared to be coming to a head, 11 months after the EIDC's Hollywood office and two of then-President Cody Cluff's homes were searched and financial documents seized seized (seised) n. 1) having ownership, commonly used in wills as "I give all the property of which I die seized as follows:...." 2) having taken possession of evidence for use in a criminal prosecution. 3) having taken property or a person by force. (See: seisin, seizure) as part of a District Attorney's Office investigation. Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. County auditors and investigators have questioned $500,000 of Cluff's expenses, along with campaign contributions made to elected officials on the EIDC's board and payments to the Pittsburgh Film Office, headed by Dawn Keezer, with whom Cluff was romantically linked. Jane Robison, a spokeswoman for District Attorney Steve Cooley Stephen Lawrence ("Steve") Cooley (born May 1, 1947 in Los Angeles, California) is a veteran prosecutor who was elected as Los Angeles County's 36th District Attorney on November 7, 2000. He was sworn in for his second term on December 6, 2004. , declined to comment on the status of the probe. Cluff's attorney, Mark Werksman, said Cluff had not been ``invited'' to appear before the grand jury. ``Cody won't appear before a grand jury,'' Werksman said. Cluff has previously denied wrongdoing wrong·do·er n. One who does wrong, especially morally or ethically. wrong  do . EIDC corporate counsel Mark Holscher said it appears prosecutors are pursuing an ``embezzlement embezzlement, wrongful use, for one's own selfish ends, of the property of another when that property has been legally entrusted to one. Such an act was not larceny at common law because larceny was committed only when property was acquired by a "felonious taking," i. theory'' against Cluff. He speculated that public officials are being subpoenaed to establish they were unaware of Cluff's expenditures. Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke was among those subpoenaed to appear Tuesday, said John Hill, her chief of staff. Hill said Burke was trying to change the appearance date because it conflicts with the supervisors' weekly meeting. Other supervisors could not be reached for comment. EIDC special consultant Keith Comrie, who got a subpoena subpoena (səpē`nə) [Lat.,=under penalty], in law, an order to a witness to appear before a court. A subpoena ad testificandum [Lat. Thursday, said the grand jury testimony being sought is ``on a parallel track'' with interviews given voluntarily to district attorney's investigators. ``We're in full cooperation mode,'' said Comrie, the former city administrative officer who was brought in to evaluate and restructure the EIDC. The agency was created out of Los Angeles city and county departments to issue filming permits and combat runaway film and TV production. Comrie said an independent audit of the agency is expected to be released next month. Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, was subpoenaed in May to appear before a Los Angeles grand jury. She could not be reached for comment Friday, and her attorney, William Manifesto MANIFESTO. A solemn declaration, by the constituted authorities of a nation, which contains the reasons for its public acts towards another. 2. On the declaration of war, a manifesto is usually issued in which the nation declaring the war, states the reasons , said he could not discuss the case. In June, the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office closed a criminal investigation of Keezer and the Pittsburgh Film Office without filing any charges. Beth Barrett, (818) 713-3731 beth.barrett(at)dailynews.com |
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