Consulting fees paid to Stevens’ son questionedVECO: Former executives worried about paying more than $300,000 for work that was never done. By STEVE QUINN (10/07/08 22:36:30) JUNEAU — Veco Corp. executives questioned whether there would be liability for the company if the son of U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens continued to collect consulting fees without doing any work, according to court documents. Former Veco President Pete Leathard, Chief Financial Officer Roger Chan and the company’s attorney, Jack Miller, were worried about Ben Stevens’ compensation, according to documents filed late Sunday in U.S. District Court in the government’s corruption case against Ted Stevens. “Pete Leathard and Roger Chan do not like Ben Stevens,” the documents say. “There was concern in Veco that Ben Stevens was not doing any work and he was billing Veco monthly for work. Both Roger Chan and Jack Miller have stated the Veco is going to get in trouble if they do not have Ben Stevens doing something.” Stevens, a former Alaska Senate president, collected more than $300,000 during a seven-year period working for the now-defunct oil field services company, according to state disclosure forms. Stevens’ attorney did not respond to a telephone message Tuesday. Ted Stevens is on trial in federal court in Washington, D.C., charged with concealing on U.S. Senate disclosure forms hundreds of thousands of dollars in gifts and home renovations from Veco. The government’s star witness against Stevens is his former friend, Bill Allen, who founded Veco. The Anchorage oil-services company, which has been sold, is at the heart of the government’s investigation of corruption in Alaska politics. Both Allen and Rick Smith, a former Veco vice president, have pleaded guilty to bribery charges and are cooperating with the government investigation. During the 2007 bribery trial of state Rep. Vic Kohring, R-Wasilla, Smith testified that Ben Stevens was paid consulting fees of nearly a quarter million dollars and worked only on legislative business for the company. During an earlier court case proceedings in Anchorage, Smith testified the company relied on Ben Stevens and Sen. John Cowdery, both Anchorage Republicans, in the state Senate to advance their pro-oil industry agenda. Cowdery, who is not running for re-election in November, has since been charged with bribery and has a trial pending in January. Kott, Cowdery, Stevens and three other Alaska lawmakers had their offices raided in August 2006 by federal agents, including those from the IRS. Only Stevens and one other lawmaker haven’t been charged. Stevens collected at least $43,000 — and sometimes as much as $57,000 — a year from Veco for seven years, doing work listed on state financial disclosures as “business services.” Stevens never detailed his work for Veco. Stevens received payments until one month before the FBI searched his offices. The last two payments were $10,000 each in June and July 2006, according to the court filing. It says Bill Allen believed Stevens was in need of money and told him to bill the company. However, the documents say Allen tried to stop the final payment but the invoice had already been paid. The filings do not indicate why Allen tried to stop payment. |
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