FBI, IRS Raid Canton Office Of State Senator Brian Joyce
CANTON (CBS) -- The FBI and IRS raided the Washington Street law office of State Sen. Brian Joyce on Wednesday.
The FBI said the raid was part of an ongoing federal investigation.
Joyce is a Democratic senator from Milton.
Howard Cooper, Joyce's attorney, released a statement defending his client on Wednesday afternoon.
"It is unfortunate that recent stories in the media appear to have sparked an investigation," Cooper said. "Senator Joyce has been cooperating with each inquiry that has taken place to date resulting from those stories and believes that he has done absolutely nothing wrong."
Massachusetts Senate President Stan Rosenberg asked the State Ethics Commission to review the conduct of Sen. Joyce last May. That request stemmed from a report in The Boston Globe outlining potential conflicts of interest focusing on whether Joyce used his position as a senator to boost his law practice.
MassGOP Chairman Kirsten Hughes called for Joyce's resignation in a statement.
"With federal investigators raiding his office after a series of deeply troubling corruption reports, it is time for Senator Brian Joyce to resign from office immediately," Hughes said.
"Joyce's remarkable disregard for the law is a byproduct of the Democratic culture of corruption on Beacon Hill, where abuse of power appears to be a fringe benefit. The presence of such corrupt Democratic lawmakers is exactly why Senate President Rosenberg is wrong to want to weaken state ethics rules."
Governor Charlie Baker stopped short of calling for Joyce's resignation, saying he wants to wait and see what the results of the investigation are.
"The issues that were raised here were troubling to begin with and obviously there's now a pretty aggressive investigation and I think to some extent we should wait and see where that goes," Baker said Wednesday evening.
No further details on the raid are currently available. No arrests have been made.
