The former head of the Boston's FBI office has been charged with violating ethics laws by having professional contact with former colleagues within a year of leaving government service.
File photo of Kenneth Kaiser, former head of the Boston FBI. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) BOSTON (AP) — The former head of the Boston's FBI office was charged Thursday with violating a federal ethics law by having professional contact with former colleagues within a year of leaving government service.
Kenneth Kaiser, of Hopkinton, Mass., is charged with making prohibited post-employment contacts. The charge was announced by Deirdre Daly, acting U.S. attorney for Connecticut, and Michael Horowitz, inspector general for the U.S. Department of Justice.
Kaiser, 57, was special agent in charge of the FBI's Boston office from 2003 until 2006, when he left to become an assistant director at FBI headquarters in Washington.
Prosecutors say that within a year of retiring from the FBI in July 2009 and going to work for a private company, Kaiser had professional contact electronically, via telephone and in person with FBI agents investigating the company.
Messages seeking comment were left at Kaiser's home. His attorney, Tony Fuller, declined to comment on the case but noted that Kaiser is not accused of criminal intent.
Kaiser, who worked for the FBI for 27 years, faces a maximum of one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 fine on the misdemeanor charge.
The ethics law prohibits senior executive branch personnel from making professional contacts with the agency they were employed by for one year after leaving government service.
A charging document filed in court alleges that on July 3, 2009, the same day he retired from the FBI, Kaiser was hired as a consultant by LocatePlus Holding Corp. to handle an internal investigation into corporate wrongdoing by two former executives and to help generate government sales for the company's products and services.
In March 2010, Kaiser became a full-time employee of the company with the title of director of government sales. The company, based in Beverly, Mass., provides public information on bankruptcies, real estate transactions and drivers' licenses to commercial, private sector and law enforcement entities.
The charging document alleges that starting 17 days after his retirement, Kaiser had numerous prohibited contacts with FBI employees regarding a then-ongoing FBI securities fraud investigation of LocatePlus and its former executives. He is also accused of having prohibited contacts with FBI employees in an effort to generate sales of the company's products and services to the FBI.
Kaiser is also accused of having additional improper contacts with the Boston FBI office regarding a threatening letter received by a corporate executive in Gloucester who had hired Kaiser in August 2009.