NJ Arts Funding Probe Ends With No Crimes Found

A lawyer says an investigation into fraud in the New Jersey State Council on the Arts has ended after no criminal wrongdoing was found.

Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno said during a public hearing in May that the state Attorney General's Office was probing whether the council awarded $300,000 in contracts may have been awarded fraudulently.

Arts Council Executive Director Steve Runk resigned after the allegations were made.

But his lawyer, Aidan O'Connor, tells The Star-Ledger that he was notified in November that the investigation had been closed. He says that likely means there was no criminal activity.

Guadagno's office told the newspaper that it had no notification on the status of the investigation. The Attorney General's Office told The Associated Press it would not comment on investigations.

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