State Grand Jury Review Sought In AZ AG Snell And Wilmer Investigation

A Peremptory Writ of Mandamus has been filed with the Arizona Supreme Court asking that the Arizona Attorney General’s Office present the results of investigations into the actions of attorneys with the Snell and Wilmer law firm as well as several officials from the City of Victorville, California to a State Grand Jury.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich has been criticized for the seeming reluctance to pursue the remaining cases related to a complex fraud scheme that has already resulted in several indictments, and guilty pleas. According to the victim of the scheme, successful developer Will Graven, Brnovich has refused to allow the remaining high profile alleged participants in the conspiracy to face justice.

According to Graven and former Attorney General Office employees, Brnovich’s office has taken steps to prevent the indictment of attorneys from the powerful Snell and Wilmer law firm. Assistant Chief of Special Investigations and Special Agent Dan Woods and his team at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office conducted an investigation over a period of more than 4 years of a fraud scheme that resulted in multiple players being indicted by an Arizona State Grand Jury on countless felony charges.

In December 2015, almost immediately after showing Criminal Division Chief Don Conrad a power point presentation related to the investigation of Snell and Wilmer attorneys related to the multiple fraud schemes targeting Graven and his business interest, Woods was summarily fired. Others close to the case have since been fired, demoted, or transferred, according to sources. That presentation, like all of the other power point presentations that Woods has created over the years for various cases in his role at the Attorney General’s Office, is a tool prosecutors have found useful to further their understanding of complex litigation. The presentation was paid for by the taxpayers and is a public record.

Almost immediately after firing Woods, a former intelligence officer with a stellar service record, Conrad retired from the Attorney General’s Office. On January 8, 2016, interested parties were informed in at least three separate letters from the Attorney General’s office that the remaining cases had been closed.

That might have been the end of the case, but for the fact that the power point presentation was captured and published on Youtube. That 3 hour long video has been viewed by hundreds of people.

As expected, the three remaining cases have been reopened only to be shipped off to Pinal County Attorney Lando Voyles, known for his willingness to make politically uncomfortable cases go away.

And the case of defrauding Arizona businessman Will Graven is about as politically uncomfortable as it gets.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to consider the petition on Thursday, May 19, 2016.

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