Verizon eventually agreed to give work to the firm of another Fumo ally, former City Controller Thomas A. Leonard, according to testimony.
At the same hearing, Fumo's private eye, Frank D. Wallace, spoke in public for the first time and said his sleuthing for Fumo had been "one-third Senate business, one-third political, and one-third personal."
Wallace also revealed that he had performed electronic "sweeps" of Fumo's legislative offices and home, as well as of offices and homes of Fumo allies, but had balked at continuing to do them once he became aware that a federal investigation was under way. He said he told a top Fumo aide, "I thought it would be obstruction of justice" to continue.
Fumo faces federal charges of misusing his Senate staff and the funds of two charities. The trial is not expected to begin until early next year.
But a flood of new details on Wallace's private-eye work and Verizon's dealings with Fumo emerged during a hearing on the federal government's attempts to disqualify Fumo's attorneys, Sprague & Sprague. The hearing will conclude today.
Prosecutors have said Fumo used his power to extract $17 million from Peco Energy Co. to fund his South Philadelphia charity, Citizens Alliance for Better Neighborhoods.
In the indictment, prosecutors disclosed that they had investigated Fumo for possible extortion in his dealings with Peco and Verizon.
FBI Agent Vicki Humphreys, who along with Agent Kathy McAfee investigated Fumo for four years, took the stand and read the accounts of three Verizon representatives involved in the Fumo dealings: former Verizon president Daniel J. Whelan; the firm's former top lawyer, Julia Conover; and lobbyist Stephen R. Wojdak.
