Friday, January 09, 2009

Fitz's office accidentally IDs witnesses in document sent to media

According to reports published by the Chicago Tribune and The Smoking Gun Web site, the snafu happened yesterday, when a spokesman for Fitzgerald attached the document to an e-mail message announcing felony charges against individuals named John Walsh and Charles Martin. The two men were partners in a foreign-exchange futures dealer called One World Capital Group, located in the Chicago area but now defunct, that is accused of defrauding customers of $15 million.

Included along with the 62-page complaint filed against Walsh and Martin was a one-page chart that identified 24 sources who were mentioned only in an anonymous fashion in the complaint itself. The sources included former One World employees, customers and "other" individuals, according to a copy of the document that was posted by The Smoking Gun with the names blurred out. The document also apparently identified two investment groups that hadn't been publicly named.

Once the error was discovered, Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Sanborn quickly sent out another e-mail asking all of the media members who received the original document to quickly destroy it, according to the two reports.

Read on.

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