From left to right: Calvert White and Benjamin Hendricks. Both men were found guilty of federal wire fraud and bribery charges in a corruption case involving COVID relief funds. Photo Credit: WTJX.
Calvert White and Benjamin Hendricks will not get a new trial, nor will they be acquitted of convictions for fraud and bribery, said District Court Judge Mark Kearney on Friday.
Judge Kearney issued the order and accompanying opinion in response to motions from White, the former commissioner of the Department of Sports, Parks and Recreation and Mr. Hendricks, a local businessman, claiming judicial overreach in an answer given to the jury during deliberations.
“We told the jury we would not comment on the facts relating to common knowledge,” explained Judge Kearney. “But we could not ignore the question of law as to a wire transaction in interstate commerce.” The question of law was thus answered with “the general definition of wire fraud,” the judge wrote.
Lawyers for the convicted men also argued that prosecutors “did not adduce sufficient evidence of an interstate wire transfer to allow a conviction.” The court rejected that argument completely, stating that there was “overwhelming uncontradicted evidence of a wire transfer from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas in furtherance of the illegal conduct charged by the Grand Jury.” This was “sufficient evidence to sustain their convictions,” even if the court were to have erred in its answer to the jury's question, Judge Kearney opined.
As such, the court ruled that there was “no basis to hold a new trial or acquit either man on the honest services wire fraud count.”
The two men were convicted in July of honest services wire fraud and bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds following a weeklong trial and a day of deliberations. Their sentencing, originally scheduled for December 2, was pushed back to January 2026 to accommodate hearings and deliberations on a potential retrial.
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