Psycho4Bud
07-30-2008, 11:07 AM
Senator Ted Stevens of Alaska, a legendary political figure closely tied to the rough-and-tumble history of his home state, and who wields outsize influence over federal spending, was indicted on Tuesday on seven felony counts of failing to disclose gifts that he received from an oil services company.
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia charged Mr. Stevens, who is 84 and the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, with failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts, including extensive renovations to his house in Alaska, a Land Rover and home furnishings on financial disclosure forms that he filed from 1999 to 2006.
The indictment said that Mr. Stevens ??knowingly and willfully engaged in a scheme to conceal? the gifts he received from the VECO Corporation, once one of Alaska??s largest oil field contractors, and its former chief executive, William J. Allen, who last year pleaded guilty in the case. And it comes nearly a year to the day after F.B.I. agents raided the senator??s home as part of a long-running and expansive public corruption investigation in Alaska.
Mr. Stevens was informed of the indictment through a telephone call to his lawyer on Tuesday morning and was allowed to surrender instead of being arrested. He was expected to make an initial appearance in Washington before a federal judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, once a hearing is scheduled.
Mr. Stevens declared his innocence and his intention to fight the charges against him in a statement posted on his Web site. ??I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that,? he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/washington/30stevens.html?bl&ex=1217563200&en=cf4c01662516e342&ei=5087%0A
I'll be interesting to see what sort of fine/ jail time this person will get. IF guilty....send out a message that this will NOT be tolorated!!
Have a good one!:s4:
A federal grand jury in the District of Columbia charged Mr. Stevens, who is 84 and the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, with failing to report more than $250,000 in gifts, including extensive renovations to his house in Alaska, a Land Rover and home furnishings on financial disclosure forms that he filed from 1999 to 2006.
The indictment said that Mr. Stevens ??knowingly and willfully engaged in a scheme to conceal? the gifts he received from the VECO Corporation, once one of Alaska??s largest oil field contractors, and its former chief executive, William J. Allen, who last year pleaded guilty in the case. And it comes nearly a year to the day after F.B.I. agents raided the senator??s home as part of a long-running and expansive public corruption investigation in Alaska.
Mr. Stevens was informed of the indictment through a telephone call to his lawyer on Tuesday morning and was allowed to surrender instead of being arrested. He was expected to make an initial appearance in Washington before a federal judge, Emmet G. Sullivan, once a hearing is scheduled.
Mr. Stevens declared his innocence and his intention to fight the charges against him in a statement posted on his Web site. ??I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that,? he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/washington/30stevens.html?bl&ex=1217563200&en=cf4c01662516e342&ei=5087%0A
I'll be interesting to see what sort of fine/ jail time this person will get. IF guilty....send out a message that this will NOT be tolorated!!
Have a good one!:s4: