Investment Places F.C.C. Aide Amid Fraud Inquiry

For the last three years, Daniel Gonzalez has been the loyal lieutenant and gatekeeper to Kevin J. Martin, the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. He has kept the agency humming, the paper flowing and the staff vacancies filled as Martin’s chief of staff. Described by some as the sixth commissioner, he has helped shape policy on regulations that decide winners and losers among the nation’s broadcasters, telephone companies, wireless carriers and cable providers. As largely unheralded officials like Mr. Gonzalez prepare to exit the government in the final months of the Bush administration to seek high-paying jobs at law firms or companies, Mr. Gonzalez faces a far more uncertain future. Instead of cashing in on his access and expertise, he faces the possibility of financial ruin. Hoping to pursue a career in an entirely different field from telecommunications, Mr. Gonzalez invested in a small energy company three years ago and then joined the company’s board in 2006. The company, law enforcement officials say, turns out to have been a fraudulent venture that took more than $54 million from investors. There is no evidence that Mr. Gonzalez committed a crime or violated federal ethics rules. But many of the company’s lenders say in lawsuits that he, along with other board members, personally guaranteed millions of dollars in outstanding loans to the energy company, even though his financial disclosure statement indicated that his net worth was only in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/business/05fcc.html?ref=todayspaper
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