Fundraiser Barred From State Contracts

Maryland officials have barred Alan B. Fabian, an entrepreneur and one-time Republican fundraiser now in federal prison, from doing business with the state for an indefinite period.

Fabian, who lived in Cockeysville, pleaded guilty last year to mail and tax fraud in connection with a $32 million fraud. The Board of Public Works, a three-member panel with purview over state contracts, approved the action Wednesday without discussion. Fabian had been notified of the proceeding and did not request a hearing, according to board records.

Fabian gained prominence in political circles when serving as finance committee chairman for Michael S. Steele's 2006 U.S. Senate bid and as one of dozens in that capacity for Mitt Romney's presidential bid. Though the fraud conviction wasn't related to his fundraising, allegations Fabian made to prosecutors regarding Steele's mishandling of campaign funds surfaced this year. Steele, former Maryland lieutenant governor who now serves as Republican National Committee chairman, has denied the allegations.

According to the fraud case, Fabian orchestrated a Ponzi scheme to generate millions of dollars and created the Baltimore nonprofit Centre for Management and Technology, which offered consulting help to qualified charities, as a way of opening lines of credit with banks only to default on them. The state terminated a contract with CMAT last year.

Fabian was sentenced to nine years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit his interest in several North Carolina properties, a yacht and several cars. Under the action taken by the Board of Public Works, Fabian is barred from being awarded or performing work, directly or indirectly, with any state contracts.

"There was no question on that," Budget Secretary T. Eloise Foster said of the debarment.