GOSHEN – Orange County Government Attorney Rick Golden said the FBI has served a subpoena for documents to the county in an investigation into a controversial county contract for information technology services with StarCIO.
Golden said it was directed to the county “generally,” to the attention of the county attorney. “No individual in the county was served with a subpoena.”
Golden said the county “will fully comply with the subpoena’s request for documents.”
The issue came to light when a whistleblower informed State Senator James Skoufis (D, Cornwall) about a contract awarded to Human Resources Commissioner Langdon Chapman’s brother-in-law’s IT company. The contract, which was initially for $65,000, ballooned to an agreement of more than $800,000.
In an October news conference Skoufis and members of the legislature exposed the no-bid, low-show contract with StarCIO. Following a referral to law enforcement by Skoufis, Orange County must now respond to an FBI subpoena.
In response to news about the subpoena, Skoufis said, “In the face of the county government’s months-long deception and ‘nothing to see here’ attitude following my office’s work to expose their corruption, I’ve repeatedly stated law enforcement would be the final arbiter on criminality. Make no mistake: This is the biggest scandal in Orange County government’s recent history. I am thankful for the FBI’s involvement on behalf of my constituents.”
In the weeks following the October news conference, legislative Chairwoman Katherine Bonelli empaneled an investigations task force that has since conducted hearings looking into the IT contract. The task force has already interviewed several county officials and examined documents as part of its investigation. The task force is slated to release a report of its findings upon the conclusion of its work. After it’s initial round of interviews concluded in December, Skoufis released a report from his office outlining his conclusions.
Golden, Chapman, and his relative have all denied any wrongdoing in the case.
