Witness says he never billed Ted Stevens for renovations

Los Angeles Times | October 1, 2008

Prosecution witness Bill J. Allen testifies about renovations to the Alaska senator’s ski chalet, which lawyers say were never paid for.
By Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
10:04 AM PDT, October 1, 2008
WASHINGTON — An Alaskan oilman at the center of corruption charges against Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) said Wednesday that he helped engineer an overhaul of Stevens’ ski chalet but never billed the lawmaker for the work.

Bill J. Allen, the star prosecution witness at Stevens’ federal court trial, said he received a handwritten letter from the senator in 2002 in which Stevens requested a bill. But he testified that he ignored the request after a discussion with a mutual friend overseeing the work.

“He said, ‘Ah, Bill, don’t worry about getting a bill,’ ” Allen said in testimony Wednesday, recounting a conversation with the friend, Bob Persons, who owns a popular restaurant in Girdwood, where the Stevens’ home is located.

Allen, 71, testified Wednesday about how workers from his now-defunct oilfield services firm, VECO Corp., performed plumbing, electrical, lighting and other services on the makeover of the Stevens’ home.

Prosecutors alleged that the firm performed more than $200,000 worth of work on the chalet between 2000 and 2006 that Stevens never paid for.

Stevens’ lawyers contend that Stevens and his wife, Catherine, paid more than $160,000 to a construction firm also hired to do work on the project, and that it paid all the bills they ever received. The defense lawyers have said that Allen withheld Stevens’ billing for certain services, but that Stevens was unaware of that.

Stevens is charged with seven felony counts of filing false financial disclosure forms with the Senate.

Allen pleaded guilty in May to federal charges of extortion, bribery and conspiracy, as part of a widespread public corruption probe. Among those he admitted paying money to was Stevens’ son, Ben, a former president of the Alaskan Senate.

Prosecutors introduced into evidence a copy of the October 6, 2002, note in which Stevens requested the bill.

“Dear Bill,” the handwritten note begins. “When I think of the many ways in which you make my life easier and more enjoyable, I lose count. Thanks for all the work on the chalet. You owe me a bill. Remember Torricelli my friend. Friendship is one thing. Compliance with the ethics rules entirely different. . . . It just has to be done right.”

Prosecutors said “Torricelli” was a reference to former New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli, who decided not to seek reelection in 2002 after disclosures of payments to his campaign from an imprisoned businessman.