Waldholtz Says More Evidence Against Husband Uncovered Representative Again Testifies Before Federal Grand Jury

Rep. Enid Waldholtz and her attorney said Thursday they have uncovered new evidence of check forgery and other fraud by her estranged husband.

Mrs. Waldholtz made the statements after testifying for a second time before a federal grand jury, which is investigating allegations that Joseph Waldholtz engaged in a $1.7 million check-kiting scheme and lied to the Federal Election Commission.

“This covers several years of my life and we’re going over it in great detail,” the first-term Republican from Utah told reporters on the courthouse steps. She said that she and her attorney, Charles Roistacher, recently found evidence of “more fraud, more embezzlement from the (1994) campaign and checks … that Joe forged on my account.”

For example, Roistacher said, questions from the grand jury had prompted them to uncover several checks payable to Joseph Waldholtz, totaling close to $27,000, on which he had forged his wife’s signature. They were written in early 1993, the attorney said.

Mrs. Waldholtz first testified before the panel on Dec. 14. She has blamed the alleged financial improprieties on her husband, who managed her campaign finances.

“We’re a little disappointed that the Justice Department hasn’t sought an indictment of Joe Waldholtz,” said Roistacher, a former federal prosecutor. “I can assure you that he is a target of their investigation.”

Waldholtz, 32, who recently tried to shift some of the blame for their financial troubles onto his wife, has not decided whether to testify about the couple’s finances. He has been talking with prosecutors about a possible deal in which he would provide information about his wife’s role in their financial dealings.

Kevin Ohlson, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, declined comment on the matter Thursday as did Assistant U.S. Attorney William Lawler, the lead prosecutor in the case.

Waldholtz’s attorney, Harvey Sernovitz, didn’t immediately return a telephone call seeking comment on the new allegations.

Earlier in the day, Rep. Waldholtz testified for about six hours in the closed-door session at the federal courthouse.

Roistacher said her testimony likely would continue next Tuesday. “I’m just going to continue to tell them exactly what happened,” Rep. Waldholtz said.

In a tearful, 4-1/2-hour news conference last month, the congresswoman said her husband had falsified documents, stolen money from the campaign and lied to her at nearly every turn.