“Federal subpoenas! Get your hot and fresh federal subpoenas right here!”

A federal grand jury subpoena ranks right there with a notice of an IRS audit on the list of THINGS NO ONE WANTS TO SEE.  It appears that some well-known state-level political players have recently heard from a federal grand jury:

A federal grand jury has issued a subpoena to UNC-Wilmington demanding records about Marion Warren, a former state district court judge who is the university’s state legislative liaison. The subpoena is linked to a grand jury investigation into a domestic violence prevention program funded by a North Carolina nonprofit, one of dozens of organizations where legislators have sent millions of dollars of direct grants in recent years. The Aug. 5 subpoena demands “all documents and records relating to Warren’s position at UNC Wilmington.” It also asks for UNCW’s employee code of ethics, conflict of interest and outside employment policies.

Among other things involving several more people, the subpoena also demands all documents and records of payments UNCW made to Warren and Juristrat, a company Warren founded in 2020. Juristrat was formed as a “consulting and investing” business, state incorporation records show. Warren, a former state Administrative Office of the Courts director, is the only company official listed in its annual reports. The N&O has been seeking records on Warren’s reported outside income and any conflicts of interest information from UNCW for weeks. The campus provided a copy of the subpoena to The News & Observer Friday in response to a records request. Warren did not respond to a reporter’s phone call or text message this week.

WARREN’S FINANCIAL TIES

UNCW hired Warren in April 2023 as an assistant to the chancellor and executive director of government and external relations. His annual salary is $213,200. The News & Observer has documented that he and his company have received consulting fees for a Charlotte company called U.S. Performance Center that had also received a direct grant from the state legislature. A center spokesman said the fees were for “legal services and strategic counsel on how to best partner with colleges and universities.”

Before Warren was hired by UNCW, Juristrat had collected $300,000 in consulting fees from the Charlotte company that specializes in Olympic sports, state records show. Those fees continued until September of 2023, after he was hired at UNCW, with an additional $110,000 paid to Warren and his business. Reporting off-campus income and positions is required of faculty and administrators to alert campuses to any potential conflicts of interest, records and interviews show.

But a disclosure form Warren filled out for UNCW does not mention Juristrat or any payments from the company, U.S. Performance Center. Warren did not fill out what is known as a “Notice of Intent to Engage in External Professional Activities for Pay,” UNCW attorney Steven Miller said in an email message. That form is required for faculty and administrative officials at UNC System campuses to gain approval for outside work. UNCW requires faculty and administration officials to fill out a conflict of interest report each year. Warren’s statement from February does not mention any connections that would represent a real or potential conflict.

UNCW Chancellor Aswani Volety provided Warren’s conflict of interest report to The News & Observer in response to a public records request. University officials initially said the form was not a public record under the state personnel law, but released it after The N&O pointed out that state law allows for the release of personnel information when it’s “essential” to maintain a public agency’s integrity. UNCW spokeswoman Andrea Weaver said in an emailed statement that Warren told Volety prior to taking the position that he was “finalizing business matters unrelated to his pending role at the university.”

“Dr. Volety and Mr. Warren did not discuss the specifics of these businesses,” Weaver said. “Chancellor Volety instructed Mr. Warren to complete the required forms as part of his employment.” University officials declined to comment on Warren’s conflict of interest report, “given legal and personnel considerations,” Weaver said.[…]

But WAIT. There’s MORE:

[…] The subpoena focuses on more than Warren. It also requires all documents and records relating to payments from UNCW to four individuals: Larry Powell, Sonja Powell, Shawn Sullivan and Jordan Hennessy and to four companies: Juristrat, Banbridge, Tarheel Monitoring, LLC, Monotec, LLC. All except Banbridge were also named in a separate subpoena the grand jury issued in June to the N.C. Department of Public Safety, which administers grants legislators gave to Caitlyn’s Courage, the domestic violence prevention nonprofit.

Hennessy is a former GOP legislative aide who co-wrote the legislation with Warren that provided the state funding for Caitlyn’s Courage, according to correspondence obtained by the News & Observer. That nonprofit contracted with Tarheel Monitoring to run its prevention program. The Powells and Sullivan are Tarheel’s top officials, according to state records, and Monotec shares a business address with the company. Warren founded Banbridge, a “consultation and management services” company in 2021, according to state incorporation records. The subpoena required the records to be returned this week to the grand jury at the federal building in Raleigh.

LEGISLATIVE GRANT SPENDING

Caitlyn’s Courage was formed in October 2019, and received $3.5 million from legislators the following year. The N.C. Department of Public Safety, which administers the grant’s spending, delivered thousands of pages of documents to a federal grand jury meeting in Raleigh on Aug. 13, the department said. In 2022, Juristrat began receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars from the U.S. Performance Center, a for-profit company that has also received state grant money. The consulting services were paid for with $25 million state lawmakers gave the company in 2021.

The state money was intended for “capital needs,” according to a budget document, but the center reported using it for expenses that included travel, vehicle loans and late taxes, the N&O reported earlier this month. That grant, along with $30 million given to a nonprofit affiliated with U.S. Performance Center last year, have drawn criticism from House Minority Leader Robert Reives, a Chatham County Democrat, and John Hood, a columnist for the Carolina Journal, a conservative publication. Juristrat and Warren were paid a combined $410,000 from U.S. Performance Center from April 29, 2022 to Sept. 26, 2023, state records show.

UNCW chancellor Volety hired Warren as the legislative liaison, a role that requires him to lobby the N.C. General Assembly, the governor’s office, the UNC System office and other state agencies on behalf of UNCW. In a message to faculty and staff on Sept. 22, Volety praised Warren and his predecessor, Mark Lanier, for their work with lawmakers on the state budget. “Marion and Mark collaborated to effectively engage our legislative delegation, resulting in a very successful budget session for UNCW,” Volety said. “The salary increases, combined with funding for many UNCW priorities, will help our community continue soaring high, soaring far and soaring together as Seahawks.”

BUSINESS DISCLOSURE

Art Padilla, a former UNC System senior administrator, designed the external activities report. He said disclosures of outside income and employment are important.

The external activities report helps university officials determine if any activities will compete with an employee’s work hours or conflict with the university’s mission, he said. Warren should have filled out an external activities report for Juristrat and any other business interests, and included them on his conflict of interest report, Padilla said. “This is the public’s money,” Padilla said. “And if they are going to pay somebody full time, they should expect a full time commitment and they should expect no conflict of interest.”