Engineering firm executives sentenced in Alaska bribery case

Nov. 2, 2009
Two former officials of an Alaskan oil field engineering and construction company were sentenced on Oct. 28 for their roles in a scheme that paid $395,000 in bribes to state officials, the US Department of Justice said.

Nick Snow
OGJ Washington Editor

WASHINGTON, DC, Nov. 2 -- Two former officials of an Alaskan oil field engineering and construction company were sentenced on Oct. 28 for their roles in a scheme that paid $395,000 in bribes to state officials, the US Department of Justice said.

Judge John W. Sedwick of US District Court for Alaska sentenced Bill J. Allen, VECO Corp.’s former chief executive, to 36 months in prison, a $750,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release. Sedwick also sentenced Richard L. Smith, VECO’s former vice-president of community and government affairs, to 21 months in prison, a $10,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release.

DOJ said both men pleaded guilty on May 7, 2007, to charges of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, and mail and wire fraud, and conspiracy to commit federal tax fraud. They conspired with five members of Alaska’s legislature to bribe several elected officials in the state in exchange for their support of pending legislation, according to court documents.

Allen and Smith also pleaded guilty to one substantive count of bribery, and admitted that they provided about $395,000 in benefits to public officials from the state in connection with the scheme, DOJ said.

CH2M Hill, a Denver engineering and construction company, acquired VECO on Sept. 7, 2007, for $463 million.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].