Former Boston FBI Head Faces Ethics Charge

(CN) - The former head of the FBI's Boston office has been charged with ethics violations for allegedly using his office to line up government sales for a company that hired him the day he retired from the FBI in 2009.

An informational document filed Thursday in Boston Federal Court charges Kenneth W. Kaiser, 57, of Hopkinton, Mass., with one count of making prohibited post-employment contacts.

A 27-year veteran with the FBI, Kaiser served as the special agent in charge of the Boston office from April 2003 through December 2006, and was an assistant director at the agency's Washington, D.C., headquarters until his retirement on July 3, 2009.

On the day of his retirement, LocatePlus hired him as a consultant to investigate market manipulation by the company's former CEO and chief financial officer, according to court documents.

"About nine months later, Kaiser became a full-time employee at LocatePlus, taking the position of director of government sales in March 2010," prosecutors say.

Kaiser allegedly used his position at the FBI to try to fast-track the agency's investigation of the former LocatePlus executives.

"During the period July 2009 through June 2010, Kaiser had various prohibited contacts with FBI employees (electronic, telephonic and in-person) regarding FBI investigative matters, and his efforts to gauge the FBI's interest in LocatePlus products and services in an attempt to generate sales to the FBI," prosecutors claim an informational document.

In August 2009, Kaiser also directed the FBI Boston office to investigate a threatening letter sent to a corporate executive who had hired him to investigate, prosecutors say.

If convicted of the misdemeanor count, Kaiser faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

The Office of the Inspector General is investigating the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Freniere is prosecuting it.

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