Former City Hall lobbyist John Raphael, who went to prison for soliciting campaign contributions from Columbus’ former red-light-camera vendor, had connections to those involved in the awarding of the Greater Columbus Convention Center food-service contract, which was later canceled.

The FBI is still looking into a food-service contract awarded more than four years ago by the board that runs the Greater Columbus Convention Center, re-interviewing three current and former convention center officials within the last two months.

"The investigation is still ongoing, I know that," said Don Brown, executive director of the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority.

The U.S. attorney's office requested the interviews through lawyers for the facilities authority, which owns the convention center and Nationwide Arena. In addition to "a current member of the board," a former board member and a former employee also were re-questioned, Brown said.

Connecticut-based Centerplate was awarded the food-service contract with the authority in late 2014, at a time when the firm was represented by former City Hall lobbyist John Raphael, who eventually was sentenced to serve 15 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to extorting campaign contributions from Columbus’ former red-light-camera vendor, Redflex.

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Raphael also sat on the authority board, appointed by the Franklin County commissioners. He removed himself from a facilities authority committee reviewing food-service vendors before Centerplate won the contract after another bidder cried foul. But he persuaded fellow authority members to hire Rodney Myers — general manager of the Veterans Memorial, where Raphael as a board member was one of his bosses — as a board consultant on the food contract selection.

Centerplate, meanwhile, also hired Myers as its consultant to win the contract. Myers, who was later promoted to convention facilities manager, was fired in January 2016 by the authority after an Ohio Ethics Commission investigation into his conflict of interest on the food-service contract.

The facilities authority canceled the Centerplate contract in May 2016 and hired another food-service company.

Brown, on the advice of counsel, declined to identify the people re-interviewed by the FBI. He said federal authorities referred to them as "fact witnesses" who were not targets of the investigation. The FBI was interested in "what they might have been aware of at the time" the contract was awarded, Brown said.

Any targets of the federal probe are unclear, Brown said.

Sally Bloomfield, a partner with the Bricker & Eckler law firm, who has been chairwoman of the facilities authority board since the Centerplate contract was awarded, could not be reached to comment Tuesday afternoon. David Paragas, an attorney representing Sodexo, a food-service firm that bought Centerplate in 2017, had no comment Tuesday.

The Dispatch reported in July 2015 that, four days after Centerplate won the food-service contract, Raphael led a contingent of four Columbus City Council members — including current Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and current council President Shannon Hardin — to watch the Ohio State University football team in the Big Ten Conference Championship at Indianapolis' Lucas Oil Stadium, where they were offered food and drinks in a suite owned by Centerplate.

Centerplate allowed council members to take family members and friends to the game as well, with at least 21 people on the trip including Raphael and Centerplate officials, the newspaper reported.

Columbus appoints three of the 11 members of the authority board. The Franklin County Commissioners appoint six and suburban mayors appoint two.

"Centerplate wanted to show its appreciation for the (authority food) contract, and also there was an opportunity to sample some of the food that would be served in Columbus," Raphael told The Dispatch in 2015.

Ginther immediately paid $250 for the trip and reported it as a travel expense on his campaign finance report. His campaign said that because he listed it as a campaign expense he was not required to disclose it on state ethics forms.

Former Councilwoman Eileen Y. Paley, now a Franklin County Municipal Court judge, and Hardin reported the trip as gifts on ethics disclosures, but in mid-2015, they also paid Centerplate $250, just as the Redflex scandal was unraveling, taking down Raphael.

Federal investigators uncovered the Redflex scheme involving Raphael and an attempt to bribe Columbus officials in exchange for city contracts. Former Redflex officials told investigators that Raphael was the middleman for campaign contributions meant to be passed to elected officials in exchange for contracts. A former company official pleaded guilty to federal bribery charges in 2015. No city officials were charged in the investigation.

The Ohio Ethics Commission later found the Indianapolis trip to be worth $696.53, and the city officials paid the difference.

Former Councilwoman Michelle M. Mills resigned in August 2015 when it was determined that she had not disclosed the Centerplate trip as a gift on her state ethics form. She was fined $250 after she pleaded guilty to a first-degree misdemeanor ethics violation in Franklin County Municipal Court. She also paid the city $2,089 to cover the cost of the football trip for herself and two guests.

Paul Nick, executive director of the state's ethics commission, which enforces Ohio's conflict of interest laws, had no comment on the investigation Tuesday, nor did Fred Alverson, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Columbus.

bbush@dispatch.com

@ReporterBush