Jun.03, 2010

The cast of characters

James Austin Greer, the chairman

The former restaurateur from Oviedo was picked by Gov. Charlie Crist to lead the Republican Party of Florida in January 2007. He was ousted in January amid accusations of shoddy finances. He is accused of money laundering, fraud and theft. He denies the charges. At the heart of the arrest is a secret contract between the party and a consulting firm Greer controlled, Victory Strategies LLC, to funnel $200,000 in party money, partly for his personal gain. Prosecutors say the company was the key entity used to defraud the party.

Delmar W. Johnson III, cooperating witness

The former party executive director earned $65,000 from the Victory Strategies contract and provided investigators with many of the details in their case.

Meredith O'Rourke, professional fundraiser

After rebuffing Greer's offer to work together, she was shut out of "men's only" meetings and had her salary cut by 85 percent. Greer forced her out of a hospital bed in order to sign a new contract for less money.

Jay Burmer, governor's consultant

An ally of Charlie Crist, he offered little help to investigators about the meeting between O'Rourke and Greer. He called the meeting "professional and cordial."

Jason Gonzalez, party lawyer

He was cut out of the review of the secret contract, though he played a key role in drafting a clandestine severance agreement to force Greer out as chairman. He says Greer lied to him about his involvement with Victory Strategies.

Lela Whitfield, the executive assistant

She typed up the Victory Strategies contract at Greer's direction and did not send it through normal channels.

Richard Swarttz, CFO

He paid Greer $30,000 for polling work that Greer never performed and approved several other payments to Greer.

Eric Eikenberg, Crist's former campaign manager

Denied payment for the poll because the campaign "did not know anything about a poll done by RPOF for the campaign."

Joel Pate and Allen Miller, treasurers

They reviewed Greer's financial documents and signed an affidavit saying the expenditures were "proper, lawful, appropriate and served the interests of the RPOF."