Kevin Folta headed for jail? Discredited Monsanto shill from the Univ. of Florida might be guilty of a second class felony under state's anti-corruption laws

Thursday, September 17, 2015
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Tags: Kevin Folta, anti-corruption laws, second class felony

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(NaturalNews) After being exposed as a liar and academic shill of the biotech industry, the University of Florida's Kevin Folta might be facing legal consequences for his involvement in a $25,000 Monsanto "bribe" that he willingly accepted.

According to Florida's anti-corruption laws, any public servant who accepts a bribe may be guilty of a second degree felony, subject to 15 years of imprisonment.

Is Kevin Folta a "public servant" of Florida? Florida law is clear on this point:

838.014 Definitions. --
6) "Public servant" means:
(a) Any officer or employee of a state, county, municipal, or special district agency or entity;

Kevin Folta, like all publicly funded university professors, is a "public servant" because he is an employee of a state entity: the University of Florida.

Official misconduct and obstruction

Next comes the issue of Kevin Folta's misconduct. We know from the emails acquired via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that Kevin Folta accepted a $25,000 "bribe" from Monsanto, then publicly lied about it, repeatedly claiming he had no financial ties to Monsanto.

We also know that Kevin Folta promised Monsanto, just two days before receiving the $25,000, a "return on investment" for their money. (See the leaked email below.) On its face, this appears to be a solicitation for money and a promise to deliver bought influence. In legal terms, Kevin Folta and Monsanto agreed to a contract, where Folta would provide public influence and Monsanto would provide him $25,000. (This is the very definition of corruption.)

Under Florida's anti-corruption laws, these actions appear to blatantly violate section 838.022 "Official misconduct" which states:

838.022 Official misconduct. --
1) It is unlawful for a public servant, with corrupt intent to obtain a benefit for any person or to cause harm to another, to:
(a) Falsify, or cause another person to falsify, any official record or official document;
(b) Conceal, cover up, destroy, mutilate, or alter any official record or official document or cause another person to perform such an act; or
(c) Obstruct, delay, or prevent the communication of information relating to the commission of a felony that directly involves or affects the public agency or public entity served by the public servant.

Bribery

Florida's anti-corruption laws are also quite clear on the definition of "bribery," stating:

838.015 Bribery. --
(1) "Bribery" means corruptly to give, offer, or promise to any public servant, or, if a public servant, corruptly to request, solicit, accept, or agree to accept for himself or herself or another, any pecuniary or other benefit not authorized by law with an intent or purpose to influence the performance of any act or omission which the person believes to be, or the public servant represents as being, within the official discretion of a public servant, in violation of a public duty, or in performance of a public duty.

It seems rather clear that Kevin Folta, a public servant at the University of Florida, did pre-arrange and accept $25,000 from Monsanto with an intent to influence his actions as a public servant.

As the following exchange of emails between Kevin Folta and Monsanto clearly show, Folta initiated the proposal for the $25,000, meaning that he solicited this money from Monsanto.



From a Monsanto operative:

Please see the proposal from Kevin Folta... we would like to support Dr. Folta's proposal from the CE budget at the level of $25K as an unrestricted grant... identify some dates that Dr. Folta could travel to STL (St. Louis, headquarters of Monsanto) to give a seminar on "Bio-talk-knowledge-y" and meet with our team and various individuals during the day...

Has Monsanto engaged in commercial bribery?

Monsanto itself might also be guilty of engaging in "commercial bribery" as described in Florida law, 838.16, qualifying as a third degree felony:

838.16 Commercial bribery. -
(1) A person commits the crime of commercial bribery if, knowing that another is subject to a duty described in s. 838.15(1) and with intent to influence the other person to violate that duty, the person confers, offers to confer, or agrees to confer a benefit on the other.
(2) Commercial bribery is a third degree felony, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

The Kevin Folta saga closely resembles GlaxoSmithKline's network of bribery and admission of felony crimes

If you're wondering whether Monsanto's apparent bribery of academics could ever truly be considered a felony crime, remember that GlaxoSmithKline admitted to felony bribery charges brought against the drug company by the U.S. Dept. of Justice.

In 2012, GSK pleaded guilty to felony bribery crimes and paid a record $3 billion fine. As we reported here on Natural News:

US attorney for Massachusetts, Carmen Ortiz said: "The GSK sales force bribed physicians to prescribe GSK products using every imaginable form of high priced entertainment, from Hawaiian vacations to paying doctors millions of dollars to go on speaking tours, to a European pheasant hunt, to tickets to Madonna concerts."

Guess what Monsanto used to bribe Kevin Folta? A trip to Hawaii, pre-paid hotel rooms and $25,000 to spend however he wanted as part of a "GMO outreach" program. See the full documents released at GMO.news for more details.

Monsanto's bribery of Kevin Folta, in other words, very closely resembles GSK's bribery of physicians -- a crime which Glaxo admitted, on the record, was a felony violation of U.S. law.

Later in 2013, Glaxo admitted running a bribery ring in China, after long denying any such financial ties to China's hospitals and doctors. Similarly, Kevin Folta has engaged in a long history of denials about his financial ties to Monsanto, including scamming The Atlantic in an article where he called the idea of Monsanto ties "the most insane thing I've ever heard."

As he made this statement, of course, he had already accepted $25,000 from Monsanto, promising them a "solid return on the investment."

This brings up an important point: Even if the state of Florida does not prosecute Kevin Folta for corruption, the U.S. Dept. of Justice has discretion to conduct its own investigation (if it wants to).

Monsanto letter and Kevin Folta's own email reveal the collusion, the bribe, and the promise of influencing action

The facts of what took place are not in question, by the way. Monsanto's own letter to Kevin Folta, shown below, confirms the $25,000 payment:



And Folta's own email, shown below, confirms he was part of the arrangement of the money in advance and promised Monsanto a "solid return on investment." This clearly means Monsanto is going to get their money's worth in terms of Folta shilling for the pesticide corporation, even while he was defrauding taxpayers by collecting a publicly-funded salary at the same time:



The Atlantic, by the way, has so far refused to retract their story quoting Kevin Folta insisting he had no financial ties to Monsanto. The Atlantic got scammed by Folta, and even though Natural News has brought all these facts to their attention, they seem to be perfectly comfortable, so far, with continuing to publish Kevin Folta's admitted lies on the pages of their online magazine. (Let's hope they eventually come to their journalistic senses and publish a retraction or correction.)

Clintonesque criminality at work at the University of Florida?

Whether Kevin Folta's solicitation and acceptance of a Monsanto bribe -- disguised as an "unrestricted grant" which is really just a euphemism for, "Here's a bunch of money we're giving you" -- will ever be prosecuted by Florida's Attorney General is a matter of prosecutorial discretion, of course.

As we've all witnessed with Hillary Clinton's numerous crimes that have all gone unindicted, the right person in America today can commit a long sequence of crimes as long as they are protected by the status quo. The prosecutors simply refuse to investigate or press charges. Kevin Folta, much like Hillary Clinton, is "clintonesque" in his lies and ethics violations. Similar to Hillary Clinton, he's also pushing the interests of a very powerful, politically-connected corporation (Monsanto).

For all the same reasons that Hillary Clinton is getting away with treason, Kevin Folta is unlikely to be investigated or prosecuted for his own violations, even if his actions fit the definition of second class felony crimes under Florida law.

Even if he isn't prosecuted under Florida's anti-corruption laws, however, Kevin Folta will be forever known as the arrogant, mentally twisted academic whore who got caught selling out to Monsanto after repeatedly lying about it. Hilariously, he got caught in his own words, from his own emails, and he still denies any wrongdoing.

Instead of admitting he got caught and apologizing, Folta and his colleagues are now circling the wagons, demanding absolutely scientific secrecy and the elimination of the Freedom of Information Act.

Science, they say, should only be practiced in the dark, and the public has no right to see how science is conducted or funded.