Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (R) Indicted 7 Counts, Turns Himself In to DOJ

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens (R) has been indicted 7 counts of making false statements

The Department of Justice has just released the following Press Release

U.S. Senator Indicted on False Statement Charges

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: usdoj.gov via politisite

Update 2:15 pm ET- Senator Ted Stevens is on his way to turn himself in to the Department of Justice, US Marshels Office.

Update 1:50 pm – Accepted Gifts from Vico, Renovated his Home, and Appliences, a Car, Total amount of Gifts were over 250,000 Dollars , Tis was a federal corruption investigation gratuities or gifts from Alaska oil firm VECO Corp., and its chief executives. Stevens did not claim these gifts and Lied to investigators.

Update 1:35 pm ET – There are a few reporters in the news room, you can see that if you are watching live on our link. The News Conference has not begun. So there is still time to watch live on the links below.

Update 1:30 pm ET – Department of Justice news conference – You may watch it Live here as FOX News is streaming the News Conference Live Click Here

Fox News is reporting that the Justice Department will make a statement at 1:20 pm ET

CBS News is reporting , Sen Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has been indicted on corruption charges,
The FBI, working with an Alaska oil contractor, secretly taped telephone calls with Sen. Ted Stevens as part of a public corruption sting it was reported late last year, according to people close to the investigation.

The secret recordings suggest the Justice Department was eyeing Stevens long before June 2007, when the Republican senator first publicly acknowledged he was under scrutiny. At that time, it appeared Stevens was a new focus in a case that had already ensnared several state lawmakers.

The recorded calls between Stevens and businessman Bill Allen were confirmed by two people close to the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is still under way. They declined to say how many calls were recorded or what was said. (source: CBS News)

Congressional Biography of Republican Senator Ted Stevens

STEVENS, Theodore F. (Ted), a Senator from Alaska; born in Indianapolis, Marion County, Ind., November 18, 1923; attended Oregon State College and Montana State College; graduated, University of California, Los Angeles 1947; graduated, Harvard Law School 1950; served in the United States Army Air Corps in the Second World War in China 1943-1946; admitted to the bar in California in 1950, to the District of Columbia bar in 1951, and to the Alaska bar in 1957; practiced law in Fairbanks, Alaska 1953; legislative counsel, Department of Interior, Washington, D.C., 1956; assistant to the Secretary of the Interior 1958; chief counsel, Department of the Interior 1960; returned to Anchorage, Alaska, in 1961 and practiced law; elected to State house of representatives in 1964; reelected in 1966, serving as speaker pro tempore and majority leader; appointed on December 24, 1968, as a Republican to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of E.L. Bartlett, and was subsequently elected in a special election on November 3, 1970, to complete the unexpired term ending January 3, 1973; reelected in 1972, 1978, 1984, 1990, 1996 and 2002 for the term ending January 3, 2009; Republican whip (1977-1985); president pro tempore (2003-2007); chair, Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee (Ninety-fourth Congress), Select Committee on Ethics (Ninety-eighth and Ninety-ninth Congresses), Committee on Rules and Administration (One Hundred Fourth Congress [January 3, 1995-September 12, 1995]); Committee on Governmental Affairs (One Hundred Fourth Congress [September 12, 1995-January 2, 1997]), Committee on Appropriations (One Hundred Fifth and One Hundred Sixth Congresses, One Hundred Seventh Congress [January 20, 2001-June 6, 2001], One Hundred Eighth Congress); Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (One Hundred Ninth Congress).

Source: bioguide.congress.gov via politisite