Fall River Mayor Jasiel Correia II has admitted to the Herald News that he is indeed under federal investigation.

In an interview with the paper, Correia admitted—after months of public denial, including in an interview with WBSM's Barry Richard—that he is under investigation by both the FBI and Housing and Urban Development, regarding his app company SnoOwl. Correia also admitted a grand jury has been convened.

Correia told the paper he personally has not been called in to speak with investigators, but that has attorney has requested a meeting with the U.S. Attorney General, a request which has been declined thus far.

Correia started the app company at age 19, and he remains president. Seven investors put in a total of $330,000 to help develop the app, which the paper says "helps businesses engage consumers while they are out shopping or dining by 'scraping' social media."

He says bad accounting drew the attention of the FBI, and remains steadfast that he did not do anything wrong. He says political opponents played a role in bringing about the investigation.

Correia said Kenneth Fiola of the Fall River Office of Economic Development originally made the claims in an attempt to get back funding Correia's administration had cut from FROED.

"They have no actual facts, and if there were an actual investigation, I can't imagine the FBI would say, 'oh no, absolutely, go tell the world the mayor is under investigation,'" Correia told Richard on WBSM at the time. "This is a last-ditch effort by Ken Fiola to protect his funding, with his $202,000 salary that I've seen very little results for in recent history. Some of these projects he takes credit for just land in his lap."

Correia maintains that the investigation into SnoOwl has nothing to do with his duties as mayor.

In fact, following the article's publication online, Correia took to his Facebook page claiming his comments were "misinterpreted."

Jasiel Denies
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Hear Correia addressing these claims with Barry Richard back in April by clicking the video below:

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