Mr. Mollohan, Democrat of West Virginia, stepped down from the House ethics committee last week over accusations of financial impropriety that stem largely from a complaint the conservative National Legal and Policy Center has filed with the United States attorney in Washington.
The nonprofits at issue are the Vandalia Heritage Foundation, the Institute for Scientific Research and the Canaan Valley Institute. The F.B.I.’s notification to them has occurred over the last two days and signals that the bureau is looking deeper into the 500-page complaint, which among other things suggests ties between the special appropriations, or earmarks, and Mr. Mollohan’s personal real estate investments.
Mr. Mollohan’s office did not return repeated calls yesterday. Nor did Vandalia’s president, Laura Kurtz Kuhns, whose ownership of vacant lots on Bald Head Island, N.C., with Mr. Mollohan and their spouses is a prime focus of the conservative group’s complaint.
Though Ms. Kuhns could not be reached, an official of Mr. Mollohan’s network of nonprofit groups confirmed that Vandalia had been told to expect a subpoena. And leaders of the two other nonprofits — Kiena L. Smith, Canaan Valley’s executive director, and James L. Estep, president of the Institute for Scientific Research — said they planned to cooperate fully with the F.B.I.
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