Prosecution rests in Whittemore campaign contribution trial in Reno

RENO — Federal prosecutors rested their case Wednesday in the illegal campaign contribution trial of former power broker Harvey Whittemore.

Defense lawyers lost a bid to dismiss the case and then called their first witness.

The trial, midway through its second week, is taking place before Senior U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks.

Whittemore, 59, who once wielded much influence in Nevada politics as a legislative lobbyist, is accused of unlawfully funneling more than $133,000 in campaign contributions to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Whittemore faces four felony charges, including making excessive campaign contributions, making contributions in the name of another and lying to the FBI.

He is alleged to have used family members and employees as “conduits” to make illegal contributions to the powerful Nevada Democrat’s re-election campaign in 2007.

Prosecutors contend Whittemore duped Reid’s campaign committee into believing the contributions came from the individuals.

In testimony Wednesday morning, a Reno FBI agent who participated in a February 2012 interview of Whittemore said Whittemore insisted that there was no “quid pro quo” to thousands of dollars in bonuses and gifts he handed out respectively to employees and family members before they made out checks to “Friends for Harry Reid.”

“He said, ‘I can assure you that I never made a request for campaign contributions,’” Agent Glen Lovedahl testified.

Whittemore also told agents he did not have any expectations that his surrogates would contribute to Reid’s campaign, Lovedahl said under questioning from First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre.

Lovedahl was one of the last witnesses for prosecutors, who in a surprise move did not call the lead Las Vegas agent in the investigation, April French, to the witness stand.

Statements Whittemore made in the Feb. 9, 2012, interview were contradicted by a long list of government witnesses who previously testified, some reluctantly, that Whittemore either directly asked or encouraged them to donate to the senator’s campaign.

The interview was conducted on the same day FBI agents fanned out across the state to serve subpoenas in the high-profile investigation.

Lovedahl testified that the interview, which took place at the law office of Whittemore civil attorneys Dan Bowen and Ann Hall, lasted about 50 minutes.

But Hall countered in defense testimony that office cellphone records showed the interview may have only lasted about 13 minutes. The records included a list of calls from hers and Whittemore’s cellphones that day.

Whittemore, who maintained an office at her firm, was not present when the FBI agents showed up. Hall called him to say the agents were waiting.

After a conversation with his lead defense lawyer, Dominic Gentile, the interview was abruptly stopped.

But under nearly two hours of intense cross-examination from Myhre, Hall admitted that the records she brought to court to support her claim were merely taken off the Internet from her cellphone provider. The records did not contain official subscriber information from the company verifying all of the listed numbers.

Bowen and several character witnesses, including retired U.S. District Judge David Hagen and former state Sen. Sue Lowden, R-Las Vegas, are expected to testify Thursday.

Defense lawyers have refused to say whether they will call Whittemore to the witness stand.

Whittemore, who is free on his own recognizance, contends his family members used their own money to contribute to Reid’s campaign, and any reimbursements to his employees were unconditional gifts.

Contact reporter Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Follow@JGermanRJ