Opinion ID: 3026413
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Evidence Concerning Hawkins

Text: The government’s evidence against Hawkins primarily concerned three events: Hawkins’s providing Kemp with a check for $5,000 dated March 10, 2002; Hawkins’s providing Kemp with a check for $5,000 dated September 25, 2002; and a meeting that Hawkins attended with Kemp, White, and businessman Aslam Khan. The government focused on these events in an attempt to prove both that Hawkins had joined the conspiracy and that he had committed perjury when he subsequently testified about these events before a grand jury. The first check was dated March 10, 2002, was written on the account of one of Hawkins’s companies, was made out to Kemp, and was signed by Hawkins. The government presented evidence that White, but not Kemp, was present in Detroit on 16 March 10, that Kemp had been married 20 months prior to that time, and that Kemp successfully cashed the check. When Hawkins testified before a grand jury about circumstances surrounding this $5,000 check, however, he claimed that White and Kemp were in Detroit because White was throwing a bachelor party for Kemp. According to Hawkins, Kemp and White went to Hawkins’s office, and White asked Hawkins to write a $5,000 check for Kemp as a wedding present. Hawkins stated that the check was never cashed. The second check was dated September 25, 2002, and was written on Hawkins’s personal account. Hawkins filled out the entire check except for the payee information. The government showed that on September 25, Kemp, but not White, was present in Detroit. This check bounced twice, and was ultimately replaced by a wire transfer sent from Hawkins’s account to Kemp’s account. The government showed that White had written a check to Hawkins for $5,000 dated September 23, 2002. During his grand jury testimony, Hawkins testified that on September 25, 2002, he and White were together in Detroit. He explained that he gave the check to White to give to an association of African-American newspapers, who had been helping him in ongoing litigation against Burger King. Hawkins stated that the $5,000 was supposed to be part of a $15,000 donation that he had promised to the association. When asked why White had so recently written Hawkins a check for $5,000, Hawkins answered that the check could either have been to reimburse him for the first check he wrote to Kemp or to repay part of the $40,000 that Hawkins had loaned to White. Hawkins testified that the loan had been made from cash that he kept in his drawer. The third salient event concerned a business meeting between Hawkins, Khan, Kemp, and White. As background, the government showed that in 2002, Hawkins joined a venture that was seeking to purchase AFCE, which owned and operated restaurants such as Popeye’s, Church’s, and Cinnabon. The cost of this venture was estimated to be between $600 million and $1 billion. To raise this capital, Hawkins sought investments from 17 pension funds, including Philadelphia’s fund. To that end, on January 22, 2003, Hawkins and other members of his group met in White’s office with White, Kemp, and Tony Johnson, Philadelphia’s chief investment officer, and attempted to convince Philadelphia officials to invest. Two days after that meeting, Hawkins rented a private jet to transport Kemp and White to the Super Bowl, at a cost of approximately $58,000. In the spring of 2003, the AFCE deal stalled, and Hawkins redirected his focus to acquiring almost 100 Church’s Fried Chicken franchises from Aslam Khan. On April 21, 2003, Hawkins discussed this deal with White. Hawkins explained that he needed to raise some money, and hoped to acquire an investment from Philadelphia’s pension fund, which was controlled by Anthony Johnson. In a May 2, 2003 phone call, Hawkins told White that he was going to “need you to have Tony [Johnson] to come to New York.” (App. at 12011.) White responded that if he could not get Johnson, he would bring Kemp; Hawkins was amenable to that alternative arrangement. On May 6, 2003, Hawkins called White and reminded him of the meeting “that I needed you to have Corey at.” (App. at 12033.) Hawkins explained that he just needed Kemp “to keep this guy in the hole,” so that he would think that Hawkins was “gettin’ 20 million.” (App. at 12034.) On May 8, 2003, Hawkins, Khan, White, and Kemp met in New York. Kemp, who apparently believed that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the possibility of Church’s expanding into Philadelphia, said that he was “speaking on behalf of the administration,” and that “we will do whatever we can that’s in our power in the City’s Administration to help this along.” (App. at 12057-58.) Hawkins then prompted Kemp that first, Hawkins needed to raise $40 million to purchase the existing franchises. Kemp replied that he liked what he had heard and promised to take the proposal back to the administration. Kemp’s boss, Davis, testified that Kemp did not have the authority to talk about the city’s pension funds and that she would have fired him if she knew about this meeting. Hawkins also testified before the grand jury about this 18 meeting. He explained that the meeting was held because Khan was interested in bringing Church’s Chicken into Philadelphia, and he believed that White would be useful in accomplishing that goal. He testified that he did not know why Kemp was present, did not know in advance that Kemp would be there, and had only asked White to bring someone to the meeting who was familiar with the lay of the city and could describe potential franchise locations to Khan. Hawkins explained that Kemp had been present at the previous meeting in Philadelphia concerning Hawkins’s attempted purchase of AFCE, and had, after completing a market survey, reported on the opportunities that were available for fast-food restaurants in Philadelphia.