WASHINGTON, June 5, 2006 — Four years after taking a privately funded trip to Cuba with his wife and son, Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y., has acknowledged a violation of House ethics rules and reimbursed two of the sponsors.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel,
D-New York

After inquiries from the Center for Public Integrity, Rangel amended his travel disclosure form for the April 2002 trip and reimbursed the Cuban government and New York grocery magnate John Catsimatidis for $1,922 in expenses incurred by the congressman's son Steven. House rules allow private sponsors of lawmakers' trips to cover only the costs of one accompanying relative — in Rangel's case, his wife Alma.

In an April 27 letter to the House Office of the Clerk, Rangel wrote, "I was recently advised that under the rules of the House [his son's] expenses were not allowable for payment by the trip's sponsors … Therefore I am filing an amended travel disclosure report reflecting my reimbursement to the sponsors for the relevant amounts."

He wrote a similar letter to the chief of the Cuban Interests Section in Washington, D.C., which represents the Cuban government.

Rangel's amendment and reimbursements are the latest developments in a Center investigation into the trip to Havana, which was designed to raise awareness about endangered birds. As it turns out, for Rangel it was also about meeting with President Fidel Castro to discuss the uneasy U.S.-Cuba relationship.

Faulty disclosure filing

Congressional travel disclosure forms are supposed to make the sponsor and purpose of privately funded trips transparent to the public. On his original form, Rangel listed the Minneapolis-based Sian Ka'an Conservation Foundation as the sole sponsor. On his amended form, he added the Cuban government and Catsimatidis as sponsors. He left the foundation listed, even though Sian Ka'an officials say it did not cover any travel costs and that its only involvement in the trip was to help design the environmental curriculum.

"We didn't pay for anyone's expenses," said Peter Watson, one of the foundation's founders and board members. He added that the entire Sian Ka'an annual budget rarely exceeds $25,000.

The actual funder of what Rangel's form described as a trip for "education and fact finding" was the Cuban government. All of the travelers were flown round-trip on the private plane of Catsimatidis, chairman and chief executive of Gristede's Foods — and according to media reports, a top fundraiser for the Clinton Presidential Library.

After recent inquiries by the Center for Public Integrity, Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., amended the disclosure filing for his April 2002 trip to Cuba and acknowledged wrongfully allowing sponsors to pay his son's expenses. His original form lists the Sian Ka'an Conservation Foundation as sole trip sponsor; the amended form also lists the Cuban government and grocery magnate John Catsimatidis.

Sources: U.S. House travel disclosure records; check, amended form copies provided by Rep. Charles Rangel

Other guests on the trip included Rangel's press secretary, Emile Milne; Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio; and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins.

Watson declined to provide a full list of trip attendees, citing privacy issues. However, he told the Center for Public Integrity that he believed most had paid for their own lodging, meals and other in-country expenses.

In Havana, the group attended talks about bird conservation, dined at the U.S. Special Interests Section (the American diplomatic mission in Cuba), and met with Castro.

Rangel, a 35-year veteran of Congress, declined to comment for this report. His chief of staff, George Dalley, said the congressman brought an unauthorized companion on the trip because "we were ignorant of the law and we erred in the interpretation of the [House ethics] rules."

Until contacted by the Center, Rangel and his staff didn't know that the Cuban government had footed the bill for the congressman's trip, Dalley said.

"The most important thing is that Rangel corrected the mistake he made," he said, referring to the reimbursements and amended form.

But Rangel could still be in violation of ethics rules if he has not filed the form that the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act requires members to submit when they accept gifts or payment of travel expenses from a foreign government.

This form is more detailed than the one House members regularly file for privately sponsored trips; it also requires lawmakers to explain the circumstances justifying the acceptance of the gift or travel. Once a year, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct must turn those filings over to the State Department.

Specific regulations govern travel paid by foreign governments, because "the Constitution prohibits government officials from accepting gifts from a foreign government except as allowed by Congress in the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act (FGDA) and the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act (MECEA)," Bernadette Sargeant, a former House ethics committee lawyer, said in an e-mail interview.

Asked recently about the FGDA form by the Center for Public Integrity, Rangel's press secretary Milne said he did not know whether it had been filed. Milne said that he would ask staffers and relay the answer. As of June 5, however, no one from Rangel's office had contacted the Center with a response.

New York ties that bind

In addition to the ethics questions it raises, Rangel's trip provides insight into the political and personal ties of a well-connected group of New Yorkers.

Rangel learned about the opportunity to go to Cuba from consultant William Denis Fugazy. The one-time limousine mogul had pled guilty to perjury for hiding assets from creditors after he filed for bankruptcy. He was sentenced to two years' probation but received a presidential pardon from Bill Clinton shortly before he left office in 2001.

Rangel reportedly was one of several prominent figures who pushed to get Fugazy's record cleared. According to those close to both the congressman and Fugazy, the two are close friends who share a commitment to ethnic and racial integration and a fondness for Cuba.

Another New Yorker who pressed the White House to pardon Fugazy was Catsimatidis. After emigrating from Greece as a child, Catsimatidis built a business empire — the Red Apple Group. In addition to Gristede's Foods, it includes oil and real estate assets.

Rangel is an honorary chair on the board of directors of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO), a nonprofit founded by Fugazy and former auto company executive Lee Iacocca. NECO's stated mission is to foster tolerance among ethnic groups. Until recently, Catsimatidis was vice-chairman of Forum's Childrens Foundation, another group headed by Fugazy.

Since 1997, Fugazy has given $3,800 to Rangel's re-election fund and the Rangel-controlled National Leadership PAC, according to the Center's analysis of Federal Election Commission records. Catsimatidis was more generous; records show that he gave more than $11,000 to Rangel and the PAC during that time.

"Mr. Fugazy is very, very fond of Rangel. Rangel has helped out a lot," said Rosemarie Taglione, NECO's executive director, referring to the congressman's support of the organization's activities.

Taglione said that Fugazy, 81, is not in good health and could not comment for this report.

Milne, Rangel's press secretary, called Fugazy "Mr. New York" for his connections in social and political circles. Fugazy's friends are said to include former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, real estate mogul Donald Trump and New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner.

Milne said he wouldn't confirm or deny that the lawmaker helped Fugazy get the presidential pardon, but added that Rangel "does whatever he can to help a friend."

Some had different agendas

In 2002, after Fugazy's record had been cleared, he, Rangel, Catsimatidis and about 30 other people flew to Havana on the grocery magnate's plane.

The official organizer of the April 12-15 trip was Sian' Ka'an, which was conducting a bird study in Cuba at the time.

Fidel Castro, Cuban president
(Agência Brasil Photo)

Watson said the idea for the trip came, in part, from two lawyers and a businessman in Minneapolis who wanted to know more about the foundation's bird project in Cuba.

The businessman, John B. Goodman, who owns development, travel and health care companies, has been a donor to Rangel's campaign. He is a recipient of NECO's Ellis Island Medals of Honor, which recognizes prominent immigrant families.

Watson said Goodman and the lawyers reached out to potential invitees, including Fugazy. Sian Ka'an was looking at Fugazy and Catsimatidis as potential donors, Watson said.

According to Milne, the congressman found out about the trip from his friend Fugazy. During his more than three decades in Congress, Rangel has consistently denounced the U.S. embargo against the island. Rangel thought the environmental program would give him "a new way of looking at Cuba," his aide said.

Despite organizers' efforts to stick to the bird-focused curriculum, some of the New Yorkers had their own agendas to pursue.

"When you have a large group like this, it is like herding cats," Watson said.

Fugazy's group, Forum's Childrens Foundation, has a stated mission of providing life-saving surgeries to children from developing countries. NECO's Taglione said that Fugazy wanted to visit hospitals and try to persuade Castro to let him bring sick Cuban children to the United States, where they could get better health care.

Catsimatidis' assistant, Matt Wanning, said his boss wanted to familiarize himself with preparations for the consecration of a the new Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Old Havana. Catsimatidis and Fugazy returned to Cuba to attend the consecration ceremony in January 2004.

Rangel's interests, according to Milne, were to look into U.S.-Cuba relations.

"He wouldn't have gone on the trip if it was just about the environment," the press secretary said, though the congressman's original disclosure form provides no hint of the trip having a political component.

The lawmaker participated in some of the trip's environmental activities, Watson said, though noting that "Rangel had his own matters to deal with."

On the last day of their stay, the visitors met with Castro. When the Cuban leader finally showed up for the encounter — he made them wait for him for quite a while, trip attendees said — Rangel made introductory remarks on behalf of the American delegation.

"Castro was happy that Rangel was opposed to the embargo," Watson said.

For Rangel and the other American visitors, though, the trip produced few results. The U.S.-Cuba relationship remained as estranged as ever. Fugazy's hopes of treating Cuban children in U.S. hospitals were dashed; Taglione said Castro suggested that American children be sent to Cuba instead.

And Sian Ka'an did not get large donations from Fugazy and Catsimatidis. The foundation's bird protection project ran out of money and was not renewed after 2004.

"We sat in these talks about the birds," Taglione said of the trip to Havana. "But I did not see many birds in Cuba."

Sponsorship surprise

Dalley told the Center for Public Integrity that the Cuban government picked up all in-country expenses for the Rangels.

According to Milne, it is not unusual for the Cuban government to have what he called "fully hosted" guests — meaning the government pays all such expenses. But the press secretary said Rangel's staff had no idea the congressman's 2002 trip fell into this category, and was under the impression that the Sian Ka'an foundation had footed the bill.

Steve Katich, staff director for Kaptur, said the congresswoman's office also believed that the Sian Ka'an foundation had paid for the trip. "Rangel's office handled everything," Katich said. "We never saw the checks."

Milne acknowledged that Rangel's office should have asked more questions about the financing of the trip at the time.

"If the trip happened today, I would be a hell of a lot more concerned about it than I was then," he said.