Secret FBI statements from ex-Gov. Shumlin, other state leaders in EB-5 case may be revealed

BURLINGTON — A federal judge appears willing to reverse part of an earlier ruling that kept secret the FBI statements made by former Gov. Peter Shumlin and other high-ranking state officials in the largest fraud case in Vermont history.

Judge Geoffrey Crawford last month endorsed a protective order at the request of federal prosecutors. That order blocked the documents from being provided to attorney Russell Barr of Barr Law Firm in Stowe, who is representing bilked foreign investors suing the state.

After listening to arguments from Barr on Tuesday in federal court in Burlington about why the documents should be turned over to him and his clients, Crawford said he was willing to do just that, provided federal prosecutors had no earlier agreements with those witnesses to keep them off-limits.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Van de Graaf said during the hearing that he did not believe that such agreements existed, though he needed to double-check before saying so definitively.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2021/12/28/secret-fbi-statements-from-ex-gov-shumlin-other-state-leaders-in-eb-5-case-may-be-revealed/