Mr. Filippi was the Mayor of the City of Erie at the time he was indicted by a statewide grant jury charging him with public corruption, insider trading and filing false forms with the Pennsylvania Ethics Commission concerning the development of a gaming and race track facility at a former industrial plant site within the City of Erie. The case was investigated

by the FBI, but was then turned over to the

Attorney General's office in order to avoid

evidentiary obligations. The case received an

enormous amount of pretrial publicity and as a

result, the trial judge granted Attorney Ambrose's 

change of venue request and the case was tried

in the Court of Common Pleas of Washington

County, PA. Filippi's defense was that at no time

did he ever violate his legal and ethical duties as

Mayor of the City of Erie as it related to his

negotiations with the gaming company for the development of a former industrial site into a gaming racing facility