Hundreds of criminal convictions could be overturned in Henrico County circuit court.

 Henrico Judge and Commonwealth's Attorneys Tampered with Evidence and Conspired to have Secret Hearings in Criminal Cases.

A civil case filed against Judge Lee A. Harris jr, CA Shannon Taylor and Deputy CA Michael Feinmel presented evidence of the accused having ex parte secret communications and hearings to have court orders issued without the defendant's knowledge or having an opportunity to present his positions to Henrico Circuit Court Judge Harris .

Three civil breach of ethics cases were filed recently in Louisa County Circuit Court. The Plaintiff, Nicholas Spanos, presented evidence that the Henrico Circuit Court Clerks were allowing the Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney office, represented by Michael Feinmel, tamper with the defendant's Motions filed with the court and with the official Henrico County Circuit Court records

See Louisa Circuit Court filings:

Judge Lee A. Harris lawsuit

CA Shannon Taylor lawsuit

DCA Michael Feinmel lawsuit

In numerous instances, the Henrico CA's Office took it upon themselves to file the defendant's Motions, take them to Judge Lee Harris and have the Judge issue orders without the defendant having an opportunity to be heard and without any hearing dates. These acts took place in star chamber proceedings without the Plaintiff's knowledge.

The Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney also was removing evidence from Mr. Spanos' Motions and had even removed a Motion to Dismiss with Prejudice from the Clerk's Office official files only to and refile it two years later after Judge Lee Harris had issued an order dismissing the Motion to Dismiss with Prejudice.

Judge Harris held a hearing on July 16, 2020, and issued an order dismissing the Motion that had been removed from the Henrico Circuit Court files before Judge Harris ever saw the Motion.

In a letter by a Henrico Circuit Court Clerk stated:

          "we received it again from the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office on July 22, 2020 without the exhibit list, just as we received the original motion in September 2018. However, as this is not an exact copy of the Motion we received in September of 2018 it is to be filed again."

It is unethical and violated the Code of Virginia when a prosecutor represents the accused by tampering with a court filing and filing a motion on behalf of the defendant.

An unnamed source at the Henrico Circuit Clerk's office stated that the Henrico Commonwealth consistently removes case files from the clerk's office, which files are not supposed to be removed from the clerks office.

The civil case filings gave evidence of a conspiracy between Judge Lee Harris, CA Shannon Taylor, and Deputy CA Michael Feinmel,  that hid exculpatory evidence in other cases in which defendants were convicted and sentenced to prison.

Allegations of financial and political gain received by Henrico CA Shannon Taylor and Deputy CA Michael Feinmel in order to not extradite a international fugitive who is accused of distributing more that 600 kilos of cocaine in the Richmond area for over 10 years.

The tampering with evidence by the Henrico Commonwealth's Attorney could impact hundreds of cases where defendants were convicted, and evidence had been removed without their knowledge or permission.

Lawsuits filed against top Henrico County Court Officials

 

LAWSUITS FILED AGAINST HENRICO COUNTY CIRCUIT COURT OFFICIALS 

Three lawsuits alleging federal civil rights violations and other charges, were filed against Henrico county circuit court officials in Louisa county circuit court on April 21, 2021.

Judge Lee A. Harris jr, Shannon L. Taylor and Michael Y. Feinmel were listed as defendants, the plaintiff is Nickolas G. Spanos, who has a pending criminal case in Henrico county since 1998.

All three defendants were served by the Henrico county sheriff on May 05, 2021, at their offices located at the Henrico county government courthouse building.

Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor took an immediate leave of absence stating vacation time but with no date of return, her automatic email response stated that:

        "I will be out of the office on vacation and will NOT access to my email.  Chief Deputy Michael S. Huberman is Acting Commonwealth's Attorney and can be reached at Hub09@henrico.us"

See Louisa Circuit Court filings:

Judge Lee A. Harris lawsuit

CA Shannon Taylor lawsuit

DCA Michael Feinmel lawsuit

Nickolas Spanos is accused in thirteen grand jury indictments of allegedly distributing 600 kilos of cocaine in the Richmond area for over ten years. Highly suspicious activity by the Henrico Commonwealth attorney's office was emphasized from time the indictments were issued, as former Commonwealth attorney Howard C. Vick instructed Spanos to leave for Greece and never come back.

The lawsuits allege that the named defendants and the Henrico Circuit court clerk Heidi Barshinger conspired together in tampering with Spanos's case files by removing exhibits of evidence and postdating motions filed until after an order was issued. 

In numerous instances, the Henrico commonwealth attorney was filing email copies of Spanos's filings sent to them and having ex-parte hearings with Judge Lee A. Harris to have orders issued before the Henrico circuit court clerk even received the original copy sent by Spanos.

Other allegations in the lawsuit contend political favors and bribery were involved in Spanos's case which led to federal civil rights and constitutional violations over the past eight years.

The lawsuits state that the basis for the illegal activity was to cover up a bribery and political favors by former Henrico commonwealth attorney Howard C. Vick jr, who originally handled the Spanos case.

At the time of the 1998-1999 grand jury hearings, Howard Vick was interviewing for a partner position with McGuire-Woods law firm, the same law firm that Spanos and his family were clients of. McGuire-Woods was representing the Spanos family in several millions in estate assets.

Despite thirteen indictments for conspiracy to distribute cocaine being issued against Spanos, ex-commonwealth attorney Howard Vick never had Spanos arrested, the grand jury indictments were sealed by court order and federal UFAP warrants were dismissed by James B. Comey, who was the Richmond based U.S. Attorney. James Comey was a former partner with McGuire-Woods.

Howard C. Vick established a twenty year distinguished career with McGuire-Woods law firm as head of the white collar crimes until his termination in 2020 upon McGuire-Woods being informed of the corruption between Howard Vick and the Spanos case.

In 2012, Spanos was arrested in the Philippines and held for extradition to Henrico County, Virginia but Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon L. Taylor never filed an extradition request to the Philippines DOJ, despite the FBI demanding that Spanos should be extradited otherwise he would be deported to his safe haven of Greece. A RTD article gave details of Spanos's arrest in the Philippines, https://richmond.com/news/alleged-coke-dealer-located-in-philippines-after-15-years-on-the-run/article_6e331ad0-599d-5d2b-b6c8-310144479dc1.html

After nineteen months, Spanos was deported to Greece, only then did Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor filed an extradition request to the Greek DOJ, which was ultimately denied by a Greek tribunal.

The lawsuit shows that the basis of corruption fell upon Shannon Taylor and Michael Feinmel, when Spanos filed a Motion to Dismiss with Prejudice the Thirteen Indictments on September 25, 2018. Despite the Henrico County circuit court receiving the original motion, they never filed the motion until July 22, 2020, one week after Judge Lee A. Harris ruled on Spanos's motion. 

During the two years, Spanos filed several motions, in which order were issued without Spanos requesting hearing dates and missing documents from his filings giving evidence of corruption.

The lawsuits contain over 1500 pages of briefs and evidence, containing a timeline of corruption and evidence that has taken place in the Henrico Circuit Court involving the defendants and the Henrico circuit court clerk Heidi Barshinger.

Several hundred pages of evidence are missing from the Spanos files in the Henrico Circuit Court Clerks office, including the evidence in the extradition request filed to the Greek DOJ. The Henrico Circuit Court Clerk is responsible for the filing of documents and assuring that files are secured from tampering. It is unclear if a lawsuit will be filed against Henrico Circuit Court Clerk Heidi Barshinger.

The 600 kilo cocaine case exposes Henrico County Corruption.

 International Fugitives Cocaine case exposes deep corruption in Henrico County justice system 

The case of Nickolas Spanos, an international fugitive who fled to Greece over twenty years ago continues to expose the deep corruption in Henrico County and raises many unanswered questions.

From 2000 until 2013, the Nickolas Spanos case, who allegedly operated  a 600 kilo cocaine distribution in Richmond, Virginia, for over ten years, had been forgotten and covered up by Henrico County law enforcement officials. 

Henrico Circuit Court records show that numerous affidavits filed by the FBI stated Spanos's exact location in Greece and that the fugitive had renewed his U.S. passport in 2006. For sixteen years, the Henrico Commonwealths attorney never lifted a finger to extradite Spanos, not even to contact the U.S. State department and cancel his U.S. passport.

Until a fluke arrest in the Philippines, derived from a tip to the FBI, brought life back to the case, Henrico County Commonwealth Attorney officials Shannon Taylor and Michael Feinmel attempted to hide the fact that the fugitive had been arrested and was waiting extradition back to Virginia. A March 01, 2013, Richmond Times Dispatch article broke news of his arrest.

https://richmond.com/news/alleged-coke-dealer-located-in-philippines-after-15-years-on-the-run/article_6e331ad0-599d-5d2b-b6c8-310144479dc1.html 

Spanos was being held for extradition from the Philippines, HCCA Shannon Taylor and Michael Feinmel never filed an extradition to the Philippines, despite having the full support of the FBI and the Philippine DOJ. After one year and seven months and no extradition request by Henrico Commonwealth attorneys, Spanos was allowed to return to his safe haven of Greece.

Only after his arrival in Greece, did HCCA Shannon Taylor and Michael Feinmel filed an extradition request, which they knew it would be denied, as Spanos is a Greek citizen and Greece is not obligated to extradite their citizens. On September 24, 2014, a Greek tribunal denied the Henrico Commonwealth Attorney's request for extradition, stating he was protected by his Greek citizenship.

Spanos did not always have Greek citizenship, as from 1998 to 2000, he only had a single nationality status of the United States. Ex-HCCA Howard C. (Toby) Vick had the ideal opportunity to have Spanos extradited from Greece but that would have meant giving up his golden ticket to join the powerful McGuireWoods law firm. If Vick has prosecuted Spanos, their would have been a conflict of interest, as Spanos was represented by McGuireWoods in family estate holdings. Vick joined McGuireWoods in June 2000.

Henrico Circuit Court Clerk records shows that the Spanos case is still active in the Henrico Circuit Court, with numerous motions being filed by Spanos and his attorneys. The most unusual was a December 04, 2018, Motion for Transportation to be provided by the Henrico Commonwealth Attorney. The motion for transportation contained that Spanos was voluntarily turning himself into the custody of U.S. FBI officials and to be escorted by federal marshals back to Henrico county to be prosecuted for thirteen indictments for the distribution of cocaine.

Just a few days after the Motion for Transport was filed, Judge Lee A. Harris quickly denied the motion on December 07, 2018, thus not allowing Spanos to be returned to his court for prosecution. From the onset of the thirteen grand jury indictments being filed, Judge Lee A. Harris asked for the Spanos case and every order signed bears the signature of Judge Lee A. Harris. Why wouldn't Judge Lee A. Harris not sign the transportation order for Spanos?

Judge Lee A. Harris was a Commonwealth Attorney at Henrico County before being appointed a Henrico Circuit Court judge. Judge Harris is also a close friend and University of Richmond Alumni with Howard C. Vick and McGuireWoods shadow government leader Richard Cullen. Judge Harris was also close friends with Spanos's late attorney Murray Janus, a high profile lawyer between 1963-2013. Despite the heavy conflict of interest, Judge Lee A. Harris has not recused himself from hearing the Spanos case. Why is Judge Lee A. Harris protecting Nickolas Spanos.

A Motion to dismiss with Prejudice the thirteen indictments was filed on September 24, 2018 and a trial was held on July 16, 2020, in which Spanos briefly appeared by video conference. The motion was denied and a notice of appeal was filed, sending the Spanos case to the Virginia Court of Appeals.

The Virginia Court of Appeals (VCA) protocol is that the Henrico Circuit court clerk (HCCC) send all the case files to the VCA, which they use as reference as to the history of the case. The case files was sent by the HCCC on January 07, 2021. 

VCA  records indicate that over 300 pages of exhibits containing evidence and court pleadings are missing and after three months, are yet to be located by the HCCC. A letter from a HCCC deputy clerk dated February 11, 2021, stated that the files were accessed by the Henrico Commonwealth attorney and that they even submitted the September 24, 2018 motion to dismiss again on July 22, 2020, after the Judge Harris order had been issued. Why would the HCCA file a motion which was not theirs to file? and remove over 300 pages of evidence? 

Recently, a criminal complaint was filed, with Henrico Police Deputy Chief Christopher Eley, against Shannon Taylor for receiving over $15,000 in campaign contributions from a Spanos family attorney. Also in the complaint was that Shannon Taylor received political favors and campaign support from ex-HCCA Howard C. Vick to not extradite Nickolas Spanos from the Philippines and Greece.

Henrico Police Deputy Chief Christopher Eley refused to investigate Shannon Taylor despite the evidence of corruption, Eley has been with the HPD since 1998 and heads criminal investigations. 

 See previous article of HPD Eley 

https://henricocountycorruption.blogspot.com/2021/03/henrico-police-refuse-to-investigate.html

It is unclear if the Spanos case ever ends in Henrico County Circuit Court, but if the Spanos case carries the heavy load of corruption within Henrico's Justice system, what other cases have been tainted with the roots of corruption?

Henrico Police refuse to investigate Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor for bribery.

 Henrico police Deputy Chief Major Eley protecting Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor from investigation of corruption.

Criminal complaints filed with HPD Major Christopher Eley, containing factual evidence of corruption by Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor are being blocked from being investigated.

Major Christopher Eley has been with the HPD since 1998 and currently heads the investigative bureau of the HPD appears to be violating his sworn duty as he breaks procedure of investigating corruption by local officials.

The criminal complaints give details of illegal campaign contributions given to Shannon Taylor over a span of eight years which amount to over $15,000., allegedly the payments were made in exchange to sabotage the extradition of an alleged cocaine dealer who distributed over 600 kilos of cocaine in the Richmond area and had thirteen (13) indictments pending against him.

A March 01, 2013 Richmond times newspaper article stated that the drug dealer had been arrested in the Philippines and was awaiting extradition by the Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor. After one year and seven months, C/A Taylor never filed for extradition and the cocaine dealer was allowed to leave for his safe haven of Greece, which protects him from extradition, as he is a Greek national. 

https://richmond.com/news/alleged-coke-dealer-located-in-philippines-after-15-years-on-the-run/article_6e331ad0-599d-5d2b-b6c8-310144479dc1.html 

The criminal complaint also states that Henrico Commonwealth attorney were tampering with the fugitives case files by removing evidence and documents from the Henrico Circuit Court Clerk's office.

Henrico Circuit Court files indicate that C/A Shannon Taylor and Judge L.A. Harris, who has been the judge in the cocaine dealers case, have refused to transport the fugitive from Greece to Virginia to be prosecuted for the thirteen (13) indictments pending for distribution of cocaine.

In an attempt to cover up the investigation of C/A Taylor, Deputy Chief Eley stated in emails that the criminal complaint was turned over to the FBI, which the FBI does not have jurisdiction in local investigations. 

Letters from the Director Jane Chambers, of the Virginia Commonwealth Attorneys Service Council, stated that corruption investigations are handled by the local police in that jurisdiction, which would be Henrico Police Department.

The Virginia State Bar, who handles ethics violations by licensed attorneys, also stated in letters that criminal investigations are handled by local police in that jurisdiction.

Last year, Henrico County was contemplating to assign a special prosecutor to review complaints filed against HPD staff but County Manager John Vithoulkas cut funding for the position and stating that the candidate for the position could not view complaints objectively. 

https://www.virginiamercury.com/2020/09/30/henrico-yanks-funding-for-police-oversight-job-after-prosecutor-hires-black-lives-matter-supporter/

Until this writing, Henrico County has not hired for the special prosecutors position, which is desperately needed as there is no objective authority to investigate complaints with the Henrico Police Department.

Henrico CA Taylor forced to withdraw from Virginia Attorney General election under bribery investigations

 Henrico CA Shannon Taylor bribery investigation extinguishes her Attorney General bid.

Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor was forced to withdraw from the Virginia Attorney General elections as FBI investigations into bribery allegations continue to expand into further cash payments made.

The FBI investigation alleges that Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor took payments through her campaign contributions in order to prevent an extradition of a international drug fugitive, who had thirteen grand jury indictments for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and allegedly was the hub of a 600 kilo cocaine syndicate in the Richmond area. 

The alleged bribes were paid to Shannon Taylor's campaign over a span of seven years, started with the first involvement into the international fugitives case.

The alleged drug fugitive is listed in Henrico Court records as Nickolas G. Spanos, whose case has been passed down from three generations of Henrico Commonwealth Attorneys, and is still active in the Henrico Circuit court for over 21 years.

The alleged monies were paid by Victor A. Shaheen, local real estate attorney and Edmond T. Deeb, a food salesman.

Edmond T. Deeb, who was a co-conspirator of Spanos, plead guilty to distribution of cocaine in 1999.

Local sources state that Nickolas Spanos, Victor Shaheen and Edmond Deeb were all close friends for many decades, Victor Shaheen represented the Spanos family in various real estate matters and other cases. The three were socially connected in various activities.

The alleged bribes are listed on Shannon Taylor's campaign disclosure, https://www.vpap.org/candidates/77899/top_donors/

The known payments are listed as:

Victor A. Shaheen - $14,500 total

$1,000 7/13/2012 

$1,000 3/22/2013

$5,000 8/2/2015

$5,000 9/5/2018

$2500  2/20/2020

Edmond T. Deeb - $500 total

$500 3/24/2014 

The September 05, 2018 $5,000 contribution coincidentally is on the same day as the fugitive's birthday. 

All but one of the contributions are given in non-election years, Shannon Taylor campaigned in 2011, 2015 & 2019.

Victor A. Shaheen's contributions are the 2nd highest campaign contributor, the Democratic party of Virginia being first. It also shows that Shaheen's contributions were 14% of the total legal community contribution. 

Victor A. Shaheen is not listed as a standing member of the Democratic party or has been active in politics, Shaheen specialises in real estate law. Victor Shaheen has been practising law for over 30 years.

The irregular high amounts of the campaign donations by Victor Shaheen had surpassed 20-30 times a "normal campaign contribution" by large law firms. 

https://www.vpap.org/candidates/77899/donors_per_industry/140?start_year=all&end_year=all&contrib_type=all

A FBI official added that "no one gives that large of a campaign contribution unless you are buying favours, even Shannon Taylor only contributed $7000 to her own campaign".

The FBI has been interviewing Henrico county commonwealth attorneys that have worked on the Nickolas Spanos case, it is unknown if they are under investigation. Henrico Circuit court documents show that Assistant Commonwealth Attorney Michael Y. Feinmel was assigned to the failed extradition attempt in Greece and had made several key mistakes in submitting the extradition request to Greek DOJ officials which lead to

a Greek tribunal dismissing the July 30, 2014 extradition request submitted by Henrico county and released fugitive Nickolas Spanos. 

The criminal complaint states that the fugitive was arrested in the Philippines in October 18, 2012 but Shannon Taylor refused to cooperate with Philippine DOJ authorities to have the fugitive extradited. 

The Philippines DOJ had made several requests to Shannon Taylor to send extradition documents, so that the fugitive would be extradited to Virginia to face the thirteen grand jury indictments for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.  

Despite Shannon Taylor having the grand jury indictments unsealed on November 02, 2012, Shannon Taylor never filed a formal extradition request and ignored Manilla U.S. Embassy FBI requests demanding that she move forward with an extradition or the fugitive would be deported back to his safe haven of Greece.

Since Shannon Taylor never sent extradition documents and would not cooperate with the Philippines DOJ officials, having no choice, Philippine officials deported Spanos back to Greece. Spanos has dual nationality of American and Greek.

The FBI official declared that Nickolas Spanos had offered to turn himself in to Shannon Taylor numerous times, communicated through U.S. Embassy FBI officials in Athens, Greece and through the Richmond U.S. Attorneys office, but Shannon Taylor refused to transport Spanos back to Virginia. FBI officials became suspicious when Taylor refused to cooperate in bringing the fugitive back to Virginia.

In an interview with the Henrico Citizen, Shannon Taylor states that her reason for withdrawing her Attorney General bid was "I must focus on the critical issues happening in Henrico from criminal justice reform to addressing longstanding systemic racism in our society,”

https://www.henricocitizen.com/articles/henrico-commonwealths-attorney-wont-seek-state-a-g-seat/?fbclid=IwAR2S2mdCtT-Wmmev2WEeD5BFERPyRA0KbmyinM9yflEB1EDpOEXixLT7Vag

Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor's non-existent transparency

40 Days after Gay Ellen Plack's murder by Henrico PD officers, names & video suspiciously continued to be withheld

Henrico prosecutor states that "one of the officers that shot Gay Ellen Plack had previous record of shooting incident and discipline issues."

“We’re not hiding a thing,” Henrico County Chief of Police Humberto Cardounel said.

HPD Chief Humberto Cardounel cowardly gives a prepared YouTube video press statement, frightened to give a live press conference as he would have been subjected to questions he did not want to answer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziif4DKydog&feature=youtu.be

Immediately after the murder, Commonwealth’s Attorney Shannon Taylor says "she has confidence in how the officers responded."

The facts show otherwise, that Henrico county officials are hiding important evidence in the murder of Gay Plack in her home. 

It has been almost forty days since Gay Ellen Plack, 57, was murdered in her home by Henrico police officers who were conducting a "welfare check".

The two officers illegally broke into Gay Plack's home, broke down her bedroom and bathroom door and shot her four times, two of which were in her back, after Gay was defending herself. 

As officers stated, "the bedroom was dark", if Gay Plack, terrified and confused, did not see that the two intruders were police officers and was defending her home. 

The body cam video was released to selected news media but only a portion of it.

Why are the names of the HPD officers are still being withheld from the public?

Why is the body cam video being withheld from the public?

Investigation still pending is the common answer, but yet in a very similar situation involving a Fort Worth police officer conducting a "welfare check" on a home, in which he shot and killed the home occupant, the name of the officer and body cam video was released immediately.

Why is Henrico Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor picking her own fellow Virginia Commonwealth Attorneys to conduct the investigation, should't the ACLU have a right to select exactly who will conduct a fair investigation?

 Shannon Taylor selects long time friend and fellow devoted Democrat Anton Bell, Hampton roads Commonwealth Attorney, conflict of interest?

The answers are obvious, all pointing to a cover up by Henrico county officials.

Henrico CA Shannon Taylor bribery money funnelled through campaign contributions

Henrico CA Shannon Taylor received money to interfere in international drug fugitives extradition, claims Henrico prosecutor

A Henrico county prosecutor has claimed that Commonwealth Attorney Shannon Taylor took payments through her campaign contributions in order to prevent an extradition of a international drug fugitive, who had thirteen grand jury indictments for conspiracy to distribute cocaine and allegedly was the hub of a 600 kilo cocaine syndicate in the Richmond area.

The Henrico prosecutor, wanting to stay anonymous, sent the evidence to Richmond FBI and has claimed that the international drug fugitives case has links to a well known local real estate attorney, who was close friends with the fugitive and his  family and a co-conspirator who pleaded guilty to distribution of cocaine, who also gave payments to Shannon Taylor.

The evidence also claims that  Henrico County Circuit Court Judges had also been involved in the obstruction of justice with the international fugitive's case and that the fugitive had been protected since before the 1998-1999 indictments were issued, even being told by the original Commonwealth Attorney Howard T. Vick, "to leave for Greece and never come back".

Former Henrico county Commonwealth Attorney Howard T. Vick had stated in a Richmond Times Dispatch article that "This close circle of associates consisted of local attorneys, businessmen and a physician who bought and used cocaine." 

Ironically, Howard Vick continued to publicly state that the fugitive would be returned from Greece to stand trial in Virginia but never filed an extradition request to Greece or even attempted to have the fugitives passport cancelled.

Howard T. Vick, at the time of the indictments was in negotiation for a partners position with the fugitive's family law firm, McGuire, Woods & Battle. Howard Vick resigned as Henrico Commonwealth Attorney in 2001 and immediately left for McGuire, Woods & Battle.

The alleged bribes were paid to Shannon Taylor's campaign over a span of seven years, started with the first involvement involving Shannon Taylor into the international fugitives case.

The alleged drug fugitive is listed in Henrico Court records as Nickolas G. Spanos, whose case has been passed down from three generations of Henrico Commonwealth Attorneys, and is still active in the Henrico Circuit court for over 21 years.

The alleged monies were paid by Victor A. Shaheen, local real estate attorney and Edmond T. Deeb, a food salesman.

Edmond T. Deeb plead guilty to distribution of cocaine in 1999.

Local sources state that Nickolas Spanos, Victor Shaheen and Edmond Deeb were all close friends for many decades, Victor Shaheen represented the Spanos family in various real estate matters and other cases. The three were socially connected in various activities.

The alleged bribes are listed on Shannon Taylor's campaign disclosure, https://www.vpap.org/candidates/77899/top_donors/

The payments are listed as:

Victor A. Shaheen - $12,000 total
$1,000 7/13/2012 
$1,000 3/22/2013
$5,000 8/2/2015
$5,000 9/5/2018

Edmond T. Deeb - $500 total
$500 3/24/2014 

The September 05, 2018 $5,000 contribution coincidentally is on the same day as the fugitive's birthday. 

All but one of the contributions are given in non-election years, Shannon Taylor campaigned in 2011 and 2015.

Victor A. Shaheen's contributions are the 2nd highest campaign contributor, the Democratic party of Virginia being first. It also shows that Shaheen's contributions were 14% of the total legal community contribution. 

Victor A. Shaheen is not listed as a standing member of the Democratic party or has been active in politics, Shaheen specialises in real estate law. Victor Shaheen has been practising law for over 30 years.

The irregular high amounts of the campaign donations by Victor Shaheen had surpassed 20-30 times a "normal campaign contribution" by large law firms. 
https://www.vpap.org/candidates/77899/donors_per_industry/140?start_year=all&end_year=all&contrib_type=all

The prosecutor added that "no one gives that large of a campaign contribution unless you are buying favours, even Shannon Taylor only contributed $7000 to her own campaign"

The criminal complaint states that the fugitive was arrested in the Philippines in October 18, 2012 but Shannon Taylor refused to cooperate with Philippine DOJ authorities to have the fugitive extradited. 

The Philippines DOJ had made several requests to Shannon Taylor to send extradition documents, so that the fugitive would be extradited to Virginia to face the thirteen grand jury indictments for conspiracy to distribute cocaine.  

Despite Shannon Taylor having the grand jury indictments unsealed on November 02, 2012, Shannon Taylor never filed a formal extradition request and ignored Manilla U.S. Embassy FBI requests demanding that she move forward with an extradition or the fugitive would be deported back to his safe haven of Greece.

Since Shannon Taylor never sent extradition documents and would not cooperate with the Philippines DOJ officials, having no choice, Philippine officials deported Spanos back to Greece. Spanos has dual nationality of American and Greek.

The Henrico prosecutor declared that Nickolas Spanos had offered to turn himself in to Shannon Taylor numerous times, communicated through U.S. Embassy FBI officials in Athens, Greece and through the Richmond U.S. Attorneys office, but Shannon Taylor refused to transport Spanos back to Virginia.

The Henrico prosecutor stated that a Henrico county police detective Stuart Von Canon, who is on the FBI cyber task force tipped off Shannon Taylor that the FBI was actively investigating her about complaints submitted by Nickolas Spanos and Rhetta Daniel

Shannon Taylor then began spending hundred of hours of the Henrico commonwealth staff time, initiating a frivolous investigation of obstruction of justice, which is a misdemeanor, against Spanos and his ex-attorney Rhetta Daniels, who were cooperating with FBI officials in investigating corruption involving Shannon Taylor. 

Shannon Taylor was attempting to obtain the emails in order to gain knowledge of the information given to the FBI by Spanos and Daniels.

The obstruction of justice investigation was sealed by Judge Gary Hicks and warrants went to Google llc. and AOL llc. in order to obtain the emails of Spanos and Rhetta Danial without their knowledge. Defensive motions were filed in Henrico Circuit court to block the orders. in which Google llc. and AOL llc. rejected the warrants to provide the privileges emails of Spanos and Daniels.

The prosecutor said that "a criminal syndicate operates in the Henrico county Court system, political favours and monies are exchanged between attorneys, the commonwealth attorneys office, Henrico police department and judges, it is a good old boy network that equals a mafia."