Opinion ID: 1438900
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: FBI Investigation

Text: In July 2006, the FBI received information that Zink told Hart that the prosecuting attorney had agreed to accept sports memorabilia in exchange for reducing her charges to misdemeanors. During an August 31, 2006, interview, Zink made false and misleading statements to the FBI. These statements included the claim that obtaining the baseball was only a joke. Zink made similar false and misleading statements in a later interview with the United States attorney's office. After Zink was confronted with a taped conversation in which he told Hart that he could get the felonies taken care of if she produced the memorabilia, he admitted to the FBI and the United States attorney's office that he had made false and misleading statements during the interviews. To avoid prosecution, Zink entered into a diversion agreement with the United States attorney's office. Terms of the diversion included a voluntary abstention from practicing law for one year. Zink completed the terms of the diversion and abstained from practicing law from June 25, 2007, through June 26, 2008. If Zink had failed to complete the diversion agreement, he would have been subject to prosecution.