oregonian

The vast majority of alleged crimes committed in these cases have involved rape or sexual assault. Court records and police reports have often provided extremely detailed accounts of those alleged attacks. They are not for the faint of heart.

Three key issues I see that could be addressed:

1. The flow of money. Oregon is one of five states without any limit. Lawmakers are working on a ballot referral to ask voters whether that should end. Sweeping majorities of voters in Portland and Multnomah County (upward of 88%) have supported efforts to get money out of politics in their jurisdictions.
2. The way money is spent. Campaign money isn't just spent on getting elected. As we noted in the series, it paid for luxury hotel rooms in Canadian chateaus, weekly visits to the local sports bar and a variety of wearable Apple accessories. It paid for Salem lodging and meals that taxpayers already cover for legislative sessions, boosting lawmakers’ income. It even bought one departing lawmaker a year of Amazon Prime. Some states are far clearer: Campaign money can only be spent on campaigning.
3. Oversight. The state's election watchdog is weak. They have subpoena authority; they don't use it. They instead write letters asking questions; more than once they dropped a case because no one wrote back. Fines are lower here. One election official told me he didn't want his agency to be a gotcha organization. But that's the job of a regulator. I think there's a reasonable question about why we're bothering to use taxpayer money to fund a watchdog that openly admits it doesn't want to keep watch.

That's probably a question best asked for Ms. Mooney or the attorney she's hired to represent her. To be clear, she has not been accused of any wrongdoing at this time and has also represented a number of other criminal cases in Oregon involving Saudi students that did not end with the defendant disappearing.

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My colleague Noelle Crombie published a story last month with a bit more information about Mooney, her legal practice and the threats she's received since our story ran: https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2019/01/lawyer-who-represented-saudi-men-who-fled-says-shes-faced-threats-has-temporarily-closed-practice.html

As of today, we've published accounts of 17 cases in eight states and Canada where university students from Saudi Arabia accused of serious crimes have escaped or disappeared while facing criminal charges. We're currently looking into many additional cases around the U.S. that appear similar to ones we've reported on already.

Our news organization has received no threats at this time for our reporting. We've reached out to the Saudi Arabian Embassy multiple times as well as the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, which provided bail money to a number of the defendants here in Oregon. To date, we've only received a single statement from the embassy. But no other contact.