A former girlfriend of state Sen. Vincent Fumo testified yesterday about a five-year relationship that exposed her to luxury yachts, private jets, expensive restaurants and island vacations.

Who paid for what wasn’t clear yesterday as the witness, Dorothy Egrie-Wilcox, completed a day of direct testimony, without cross-examination by attorneys for Fumo and his longtime associate, Ruth Arnao.

But Egrie-Wilcox described various ways in which Fumo used his state Senate staff to enhance his lifestyle.

Staff members did housekeeping at Fumo’s homes in Fairmount and at the Jersey Shore, she testified, and aides drove several luggage-laden automobiles to Massachusetts every summer so that Fumo and his vacation guests could fly to Martha’s Vineyard by private jet.  read more »

After years of near silence, State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo finally laid out his defense last week to the federal government’s sprawling corruption indictment.

In the most striking defense argument, Fumo acknowledged that he had received freebies – power tools, consumer goods and much more – from a South Philadelphia neighborhood-improvement charity.

But the defense said Fumo had deserved the gifts from Citizens’ Alliance for Better Neighborhoods as thanks for having raised millions for the organization.  read more »

With the process of picking a jury moving forward slowly but surely, prosecutors and defense lawyers in the trial of State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo are expected to make their opening addresses tomorrow.

Yesterday, the sides made headway at filling out a jury pool from which the 12-member panel will be chosen. But the government and the defense fell short of seating the jury, which will have to endure a trial predicted to stretch into January.

So far, about two-thirds of the pool is female. About one-fifth is African American. The jury’s final makeup will be shaped today, when prosecutors and defense lawyers exercise their right to strike potential jurors without having to give an explanation.  read more »

Do you think his lawyer would really tell him to do that?

State Sen. Vince Fumo will argue that he was simply following the advice of his former attorney, Richard A. Sprague, when his office deleted e-mails and other documents from computers before federal authorities executed a search warrant for the material.

The stunning revelation came Friday in a letter one of Fumo’s lawyers e-mailed to federal prosecutors.

Meanwhile, jury selection in his federal corruption trial began yesterday.  read more »

State Sen. Vincent Fumo and associates defrauded the Senate, a museum and nonprofit group of about $3.5 million, far more than the initial estimate, prosecutors said Monday in preparation for his trial next month.

Fumo defrauded the Senate of nearly $2 million, while he and others defrauded a museum and nonprofit group of $1.5 million more, federal prosecutors said in court documents filed Monday.

The total is far higher than $2 million estimate that prosecutors used in the 2007 federal indictment against Fumo. The amount would prove relevant if the senator is convicted and ordered to pay restitution.

A list of potential witnesses for state Sen. Vince Fumo filed in federal district court yesterday reads like an insiders’ guide to clout in Philadelphia over the past generation.

The list of almost 300 names includes not just political leaders and elected officials, but also many of the city’s top lawyers, lobbyists, labor leaders, business executives and the government workers who wield enormous power behind the scenes, day after day.  read more »

State Sen. Vince Fumo said that he had offered operators of the proposed Foxwoods and SugarHouse casinos $50 million and $20 million, respectively, last year to abandon their waterfront sites.

Fumo spoke of his efforts to relocate the casinos yesterday in a wide-ranging interview in which he addressed his fears and hopes about his forthcoming corruption trial, doubts about the Convention Center expansion, and national threats to civil liberties.

Fumo said that the cash he offered to the casinos – which would have helped to offset relocation costs if they had moved – would have come from state gaming revenues, but the casinos refused the offer.  read more »

But now Cain is under criminal investigation and has begun cooperating with the U.S. Justice Department in its 139-count corruption indictment against Fumo, according to sources quoted in an Inquirer story yesterday.

Cain, 59, began cooperating with the investigators after he came under scrutiny for possible tax violations, the sources said. If he testifies against Fumo, Cain would be the first of the inner circle to give evidence against their mentor.  read more »