By Greg Hazley
The Dewey Square Group and a subcontracted lobbying firm out of Little Rock, Ark., have owned up to sending forged letters to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission in the name of business leaders and Arkansas residents.
Bloomberg News reported Nov. 30 that the letters – including correspondence claiming to be from J.H. Heinz and Burger King Co. executives – were penned by Dewey Square subcontractor Goggans Inc. of Little Rock, which said it subcontracted the work further.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the letters appear in the public comments section of the CFTC and addressing a rule proposed by the commission regarding derivatives clearing and trading ventures.
“Dewey Square had no reason whatsoever to believe that the letters were not authentic and had no knowledge that they were in fact unauthorized until questions were raised in media accounts,” said a statement from DSG principal Ginny Terzano.
Miles Goggans, head of Goggans Inc. and former aide to Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.), said in a statement the letters were written by a subcontractor of his firm and called the work “inexcusable conduct” that he deeply regrets. He said he’s worked with DSG for 16 years.
The firms did not disclose the client, however.
The episode is the second case of a PR firm being connected to fraudulent letters sent to public officials. Last year, Bonner & Associates was accused of dispatching phony letters on behalf of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.
Bloomberg reported that Washington County judge Marilyn Edwards, whose signature was on some of the letters, turned the matter over to the FBI as forging letters from a public official is a felony in Arkansas.
|