|
Wednesday, 30 July, 2008 1:50 AM
U.S. Senator
Indicted on False Statement Charges
Photo
courtesy of blogs.zdnet.com
WASHINGTON
-- United States Senator Theodore F. Stevens of Alaska
was charged today in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury
in the District of Columbia with seven counts of making false statements
related to Stevens' financial disclosure forms, Acting Assistant
Attorney General Matthew Friedrich of the Criminal Division announced.
The seven-count
indictment charges Sen. Stevens, the former chairperson of the Senate
Committee on Appropriations, with engaging in a nearly eight-year
scheme to conceal his receipt of more than $250,000 in things of
value from VECO Corporation, formerly a multi-national oil services
company based in Alaska, and Bill J. Allen, the Chief Executive
Officer of VECO at the time. According to the indictment, Stevens
concealed these things of value from his publicly filed United States
Senate financial disclosure forms. The things of value that Stevens
allegedly received included: substantial home improvements to property
Stevens owns in Girdwood, Alaska; automobile exchanges in which
Stevens received new vehicles worth far more than the used vehicles
Stevens provided in exchange; and household goods. The indictment
also alleges that Sen. Stevens, during the same time that he was
concealing his continuing receipt of these things of value from
VECO and Allen, received solicitations for official actions from
Allen and other VECO employees, and that Sen. Stevens used his position
and office on behalf of VECO during that same time period.
The indictment
specifically charges Stevens with making false statements on his
financial disclosure forms for calendar years 2001 to 2006. The
indictment alleges that, during each of those years, Stevens knowingly
failed to report his receipt of any thing of value from Allen, VECO
or two other individuals, despite the fact that the forms required
Stevens to report his receipt of such things of value.
As set forth
in the indictment, the Ethics in Government Act requires all members
of the United States Senate to file a financial disclosure form,
detailing specified financial transactions that the elected official
engaged in during the prior calendar year, including disclosure
of gifts over a specified monetary amount and disclosure of liabilities
in excess of $10,000 owed during any point of a calendar year.
The indictment
is part of an ongoing federal criminal investigation in the state
of Alaska. An indictment is merely an allegation. Defendants are
presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty in a court of law.
To date,
there have been seven criminal convictions arising out of the ongoing
investigation. Thomas T. Anderson, a former elected member of the
Alaska House of Representatives, was convicted in July 2007 and
sentenced to five years in prison for extortion, conspiracy, bribery
and money laundering for soliciting and receiving money from an
FBI confidential source in exchange for agreeing to perform official
acts to further a business interest represented by the source. Peter
Kott, a former Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives, was
convicted in September 2007 and sentenced to six years in prison
for extortion, bribery and conspiracy. Victor H. Kohring, a former
elected member of the Alaska House of Representatives, was convicted
at trial in November 2007 for attempted extortion, bribery and conspiracy,
and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. In March
2008, James A. Clark, chief of staff to the former governor of Alaska,
pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services mail and
wire fraud. In addition, former Anchorage lobbyist William Bobrick
pleaded guilty in May 2007 to felony public corruption charges.
Former VECO
Chief Executive Officer Bill J. Allen and former VECO Vice President
of Community Affairs and Government Relations Richard L. Smith,
pleaded guilty in May 2007 to providing more than $400,000 in corrupt
payments to public officials from the state of Alaska.
This case
is being prosecuted by Principal Deputy Chief Brenda K. Morris,
Trial Attorneys Nicholas A. Marsh and Edward P. Sullivan of the
Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section, headed by Chief William
M. Welch II, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph W. Bottini and
James A. Goeke from the District of Alaska. The case is being investigated
by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigative
Division.
Source:
U.S. Department of Justice
|
