INVESTIGATIVE PROFILE

     Mr. James J. Wedick, age 55, was born and raised in Bronx, New York City, when in 1972, he graduated from Fordham University, receiving a Bachelor of Science degree, with a major in Accounting.

Early Years Undercover

     In May 1973, he was appointed a Special Agent with the FBI and was first assigned to the Indianapolis Division. Later, he was transferred to the Gary, Indiana Resident Agency, where after being assigned general criminal matters, became one of two undercover agents pursuing white collar and organized crime figures that caused him to travel to a number of countries, putting together criminal cases involving numerous financial institutions both, in the United States, and Europe. The investigation code named, “OPFOPEN – MAJOR CASE #1,” was the FBI’s first effort under its new major case system to proactively pursue individuals who frequently violated “white-collar-crime” statutes. OPFOPEN—as the case became known—was short for OPERATION FOUNTAIN PEN that was coined after Mr. Wedick and his fellow undercover agent realized that many of the white-collar-crime and organized crime figures being investigated were individuals and/or associates whose criminal activities had been reported by renown muckraker JONATHAN KWITNY, an investigative journalist for THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, who in 1973 authored THE FOUNTAIN PEN CONSPIRACY—a novel heralded by both Wall Street financiers and government prosecutors as a who’s who when it came to the murky underworld of international con men responsible for bilking literally millions of dollars.

     Included in Mr. Wedick’s most notable assignments (early in his career) are undercover roles in the ABSCAM probe, where members of the United States Congress were found “guilty” of taking bribes; “indicting” the sons of reputed New York mobster JOSEPH CHARLES BONANNO for conducting an illicit wire and mail fraud scheme; and charging a California State Teachers’ Pension Fund executive who sought and received a $1 million “bribe” in exchange for his help in orchestrating a $50 million pension fund loan to a Denver con man.

Corruption Involving the California State Legislature

     In 1994, as a result of a 3 year "undercover" probe involving members of California's State Legislature suspected of soliciting bribes and receiving kickbacks, Jim received the prestigious FBI Director's award, given annually for conducting the Bureau's most "Outstanding Criminal Investigation." The legislative probe code named, "BRISPEC," resulted in a number of search warrants being executed inside lawmakers' offices in the State Capitol, as well as the convictions of four (4) California State Senators, a California State Assemblyman [and Minority Leader], a San Francisco lobbyist said to be among California’s most influential who sought to influence workers comp legislation in exchange for a $250,000 "bribe," and nine (9) other individuals, to include a member of the California State Coastal Commission who "extorted" or attempted to "extort" a number of Hollywood's elite, including actor/director Sylvester Stallone, music composer Burt Bacharach, lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, movie-entertainment moguls Jeffrey Katzenberg, Barry Diller, and David Geffen, movie producer Blake Edwards and singer-actress Julie Andrews, Sandy Gallin, and Irwin Winkler--the producer of the "ROCKY" film sequels.

Prime Time Live and Various Editorial Boards

     The aforementioned corruption case received extensive national and international media coverage and often is credited with term limits being established for California state legislators. Aside from the case being featured on ABC's PRIME TIME LIVE, various Editorial Boards for major newspapers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, and Sacramento "heralded" the FBI's efforts in pursuing the case, as well as the Bureau's commitment to investigate and prosecute corrupt public officials. Aside from receiving the Director's award, Mr. Wedick was also nominated by both the U.S. Attorney and the Special Agent-in-Charge (SAC), in Sacramento to receive the Attorney General's (AG's) award for "Criminal Investigator of the Year" for his efforts in connection with the BRISPEC investigation.

Local Municipal Corruption

     During 1994-96, Mr. Wedick developed case code named, "REZONE," that concerned local city council members, land owners and developers in the Clovis/Fresno area suspected of soliciting/receiving/paying "bribes" in exchange for making/receiving favorable zoning changes in California's San Joaquin Valley, considered by many as the nation’s most fertile farm region.

     With corruption allegations frequently being raised by the media and a number of citizen activists alleging elected officials were taking "payoffs," Mr. Wedick initiated the REZONE investigation, charging seventeen (17) defendants, including elected city officials, land owners, and developers, with fourteen (14) individuals pleading "guilty" to various federal violations of the RICO, Mail Fraud, Witness Tampering, Obstruction of Justice, Bankruptcy, and Tax fraud statutes. Another two (2) defendants were found "guilty" as a result of a jury trial, and a third was sentenced utilizing pre-trial diversion under the direction of the U.S. Attorney. Lastly, another defendant was prosecuted with committing the largest bankruptcy fraud in the history of California's Eastern District, totaling funds in excess of $6.5 million.

     In numerous editorials that appeared in both the Sacramento Bee and Fresno Bee [the last dated 7/6/2001, captioned, "Operation REZONE's Painful Lessons"], the FBI was credited with exposing corrupt land use practices where it was "clear that the local political system ha(d) been manipulated for extraordinary personal gain at the cost of public trust."

CBS and 60 Minutes

     As an example of Mr. Wedick being successful in every facet of White Collar Crime, as a result of initiating three (3) Health Care Fraud [HCF] Initiatives, commencing in 1998, three hundred twenty-four (324) medical providers were charged with defrauding California's Medicaid Program funds in excess of $228 million. The success of the aforementioned Health Care Fraud Initiatives code named, "PHONY PHARM, UNWHOLESUM, and BLOOD SPIN," attracted the attention of broadcast and print journalists alike, including Mike Wallace on 60 MINUTES, CNN's Wolf Blitzer, as well as the LOS ANGELES TIMES who did a nine-part investigative series detailing California's extensive Medicaid fraud problem. Because Mr. Wedick believes public awareness is an extremely useful tool in detecting and combating fraud, and in many cases a helpful deterrent, Mr. Wedick's resourcefulness as well as contacts enabled him to approach the producers of 60 MINUTES, convincing them about the viability and news worthiness of producing a story—highlighting the millions of dollars being lost to fraud in California's Medicaid Program.

Professional Organizations

     Additionally, during his career with the FBI, Mr. Wedick was successful in earning the respect of the more than 125 Sacramento area FBI agents, noting for almost 7 years he was elected to represent them in the FBI Agents Association [FBIAA], a national organization consisting of 11,500 FBI agents. He is also a Certified Fraud Specialist [CFS] and member in good standing with the Association of Certified Fraud Specialists [ACFS], a national trade association.

     At the request of a number of professional organizations, including the NATIONAL WHITE COLLAR CRIME CENTER [NW3C], ASSOCIATION of CERTIFIED FRAUD SPECIALISTS [ACFS], and the ASSOCIATION of GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTANTS [AGA], Mr. Wedick has made a number of appearances and presentations at their national conventions hosted for professionals actively engaged in pursuing White-Collar-Crime [WCC]. In January 2005, Mr. Wedick was invited by the Attorney General for the State of Alabama TROY KING to be a featured speaker at a conference hosted by him, addressing both public corruption and health care fraud matters that was attended by various state and federal law enforcement executives from the Southern, Central, and Northern Districts of Alabama. Likewise, in March 2005, Mr. Wedick agreed to address the upcoming 2005 National Fraud Conference to be held by the ASSOCIATION of CERTIFIED FRAUD SPECIALISTS in San Francisco, California.