EDITORIAL: Release records from HOA fraud case

After a decade of investigating and prosecuting homeowner association fraud and corruption in Las Vegas, the Justice Department has something to hide. Likely lots to hide. Why else would federal attorneys insist on preserving protective orders on evidence in a case long wrapped up and topped with a pretty bow?

That prosecutors would try to use their considerable power to conceal from the public some 6 million documents, including 10,000 pages of FBI and other law enforcement reports, isn't surprising. The Justice Department would hold the entire concept of transparency in contempt, it if could.

What's far more alarming is the fact that a federal judge is happy to let them get away with it.

Last week, U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. denied a June request from the Review-Journal to release all those records, which cover not only an estimated $60 million conspiracy over six years, but a government probe into investigation leaks that compelled authorities to make the probe air-tight.

Ultimately, 43 defendants either pleaded guilty or were convicted at trial in connection with the case, the last of which were sentenced to prison this year. Former construction company boss Leon Benzer was the mastermind of a scheme to have straw buyers purchase homes in HOAs, then use those buyers to take over HOA boards through rigged elections. The compromised boards then filed construction defect lawsuits against builders and handed repair contracts to Benzer's company.

The wrongdoing had seeped into the legal community and law enforcement as well. As reported by the Review-Journal's Jeff German, prosecutors believe Benzer's construction defect attorney, Nancy Quon, had been tipped to sensitive information amid the investigation. Quon committed suicide while under investigation. Four lawyers and three police officers pleaded guilty to charges in the case.

As one might expect, the leak investigation pulled no punches, probing the personal and romantic lives of public officials who were never charged. Prosecutors argued that those investigative details should be kept secret because they would be embarrassing to those officials. Foley, himself a public official, was sympathetic to the argument.

But in keeping all those records secret, the government makes it reasonable for taxpayers to ask whether anyone was afforded special considerations or favorable treatment beyond the confidentiality. Was justice administered fairly? Until the evidence is subjected to the sunlight of public scrutiny, we can't know.

"It's our view the public and the newspaper should be able to evaluate a law enforcement investigation including assessing why the government may have gone more lightly on some people," Review-Journal attorney Maggie McLetchie said after Judge Foley's ruling. "Given the issues … within the U.S. attorney's office, it's in the public's interest to probe what occurred."

Exactly. Justice demands transparency. What is the Justice Department hiding?