Brizzi's Tangled Web Of Conflicts

It looks like Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi's financial ties to Tim Durham aren't his only problem. Investigators might want to look at his financial relationship with real estate developer John Bales. According to Brizzi's financial disclosure statements, he owns an interest in Curtailing Investments, LLC valued between $50,000 and $100,000. According to the Articles of Organization for the Curtailing Investments filed with the Secretary of State on August 29, 2003, the organizer and registered agent of the company was John Bales. If Bales' name sounds familiar, it's because he was at the center of a controversial no-bid real estate contract Mayor Ballard's administration signed with another one of his companies, Venture Real Estate Services, LLC, to sell off the City's "surplus" park lands. More importantly, though, Brizzi engaged Bales to handle the leasing of office space for the prosecutor's office.

The county several years ago retained another Bales company, Meridian Asset Development, to find building space for county agencies to lease. Instead, the company wound up buying buildings and becoming the developer. That included about 72,000 square feet of space Brizzi's office leased at 251 E. Ohio Street. Meridian Asset Development later became a part of Bales' Venture Companies. I previously reported that one of that companies' divisions, Venture Value Fund I, identifies Brizzi as being a member of its Board of Managers. According to the company's website, Venture Value Fund I was "formed for the purpose of investing in distressed and undervalued real estate projects and properties due to the recent downturn in the housing market as well as the related tightening of credit for residential and commercial real estate projects." Brizzi's financial disclosure statements have not disclosed his role on Venture Value Fund's board of managers. Brizzi was one of six board of managers described in the private placement offering for the company, which indicated that the six board members represented Series A ownership units in the business and had invested an aggregate of $60,000 between them and were committed to investing an additional $90,000 in the Series B units. The offering proposed up to $30 million in Series B units sold in increments of $10,000 per unit. This is how a private placement referendum for Venture Value Fund I describes Brizzi:

Carl has served as the Marion County Prosecutor since November 2002. Using his comprehensive plan titled the “Brizzi Brief,” Carl focused the efforts of the Prosecutor’s office on prosecuting without apology the worst offenders and creating innovative crime prevention programs. Carl was a leader in changing Indiana law to allow law enforcement officers to use sting operations to catch those soliciting children over the Internet. Carl has aggressively prosecuted those who make, sell and use Methamphetamine. In 2005, Carl’s office achieved a 95% conviction rate in Meth cases. As former Chief Gang Prosecutor, Carl understands the danger associated with increased gang activity. For this reason, he fought to pass legislation that doubles the prison sentence for certain gang-related crimes.

In addition to tough prosecution, Carl also makes it a priority to engage in efforts that will help prevent crime. In October 2003, he kicked off the Mentor Network with Colts Coach Tony Dungy. Carl also created MY-KID (Mentoring Youth-Kids improving Directions), a mentoring program that pairs one volunteer with three middle school students and developed the EKG (Educating Kids about Gun Violence) program aimed at reducing youth gun violence.

Carl was a deputy prosecutor and the Chief Gang Prosecutor under former Marion County Prosecutor Scott Newman. He also served as Chief Investigative Council with the United States House of Representatives and was a founding partner in the law firm of Brizzi, Collignon & Dietrick.

Carl was raised in Indianapolis and attended Christ the King Elementary School, Bishop Chatard High School, and is a graduate of North Central High School. He received his B.A. in Political Science from Indiana University and earned his law degree from Valparaiso School of Law.

I raised the issue before and I'll raise it again. Should Carl Brizzi have a business relationship with the same guy who procured and developed government office space for the Prosecutor's Office? While Brizzi struggles to explain his tangled and conflicted relationship with Tim Durham, reporters might want to begin asking him questions about his financial relationship with John Bales.