Ruffin poole biography of william

A day after a federal judge sentenced a top aide of former Gov. Mike Easley to prison for tax evasion, questions remain about why he was the only person charged in a long-running probe involving the former governor's dealings with contributors while in office.

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District Judge Terrence Boyle even asked prosecutors during the sentencing of Ruffin Poole why others were not charged in the case and whether the former aide had been targeted in hopes of securing his cooperation against others.

"He truly was asking the question (that) I think the public was asking, which was 'Where's the beef?'" former federal prosecutor Kieran Shanahan said Wednesday.

Poole, 39, was sentenced to 12 months and a day in prison and ordered to pay a $30,000 fine after pleading guilty last year to income tax evasion.

Corruption cases are by their nature complex and winding affairs, Assistant U.S.

Attorney John Bruce said, and Poole's prison term is