Bryant's lawyer, Carl Poplar, did not return calls for comment, and Bryant did not respond to messages left at his home and district offices yesterday afternoon. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie declined comment.
News of the case's imminent closure comes six months after the federal probe into Bryant became public.
In September, a federal monitor appointed by Christie to root out abuse at the scandal-ridden University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey concluded that Bryant's $38,000-a-year job as "program support coordinator" at the school - a position that helped boost his public pension - was a sham. What Bryant was really paid to do, the monitor maintained, was use his influence as chairman of the powerful Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee to steer millions in state grants to the school.
Bryant, who has denied the allegations, stepped down from his budget post not long afterward. State and federal investigators have been swarming ever since, seeking documents from a number of organizations and institutions - including Rutgers University, UMDNJ and the Camden Redevelopment Agency - that employed Bryant or his law firm.
Amid the probe, the 59-year-old veteran legislator recently announced that he would not seek reelection later this year.
Meanwhile, investigators have widened their scope, and are now examining whether any lawmakers may have personally - and illegally - benefited from grants traditionally slipped into the state budget at the last minute, often behind closed doors.
