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FBI, IRS Search Home of Sen. Ted Stevens
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ShareJuly 30, 2007 7:44 PM
FBI and IRS criminal investigators executed a search warrant this afternoon at the Alaska home of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. The search warrant is currently under seal.
A federal grand jury has been investigating the senator's ties to VECO, an Alaska oil services firm. VECO is in the middle of a statewide corruption investigation that has tarnished Stevens' son, Ben, a state senator. The FBI raided Ben's offices last August.
Stevens has denied he is the target of a federal investigation, but he acknowledged in June the FBI had asked him to preserve certain records.
In a prepared statement for the media, Stevens confirmed the raid on his Girdwood home but declined to comment on it, other than to urge his constituents "not to form conclusions based upon incomplete and sometimes incorrect reports in the media."
In May, the Anchorage Daily News revealed the FBI was investigating whether the firm had paid for expansion work to Stevens' home in Girdwood, performed in 2000. Stevens has said he paid invoices for the work from his own pocket.
Stevens is the longest-serving Republican in the U.S. Senate -- and the master of its appropriations process.
Alaska's sole congressman, Republican Don Young, who is also reportedly under FBI investigation for his dealings with VECO, is the man behind the "bridge to nowhere," the controversial $231 million earmark for a bridge from Ketchikan, Alaska to Gravina Island with a population of 50.
Click Here for Full Blotter Coverage.
Former VECO CEO Bill Allen pleaded guilty in May to making $400,000 in bribe payments to officials, and is cooperating with investigators. Ben Stevens is not named in the plea agreement, but he has since been identified as "State Senator B."
The state's junior senator, Lisa Murkowski, R, recently drew criticism for a land deal from which she appeared to benefit by tens of thousands of dollars. Murkowski bought the land from an Alaska real estate developer, Robert C. Penney, who has also been asked to testify in the VECO investigation. Murkowski has denied wrongdoing in the land deal, and announced last week she would divest herself of the land.
Today's raid in Girdwood was the third time in the last 11 months federal agents had served a warrant in the former gold-mining town in connection to their corruption investigation.
This post has been updated.
Justin Rood contributed to this report.
July 30, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (76)
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So what if the Stevens and Murkowski families treat Alaska and its resources like their own personal piggybank? If the people of Alaska don't mind getting fleeced by these crime families...they deserve exactly what they get. Knowing how naive and subservient the people of Alaska are, it's a sure bet even Tony Soprano could get elected there without Alaskans raising so much as a peep.
Posted by: wilder5121 | Jul 30, 2007 8:33:14 PM
Stevens is just another greedy Republican that has been caught with his hand in the till. If we sit back and watch, the Republicans will be the cause of their own demise.
Posted by: jaynew44 | Jul 30, 2007 8:35:52 PM
It is unfortunate that we have to face the fact that our Federal government is corrupt. Emperor Bush and the rest of his mafia are in it for $$ and not for the best interest of the people.
Posted by: David | Jul 30, 2007 9:10:26 PM
Mr. Jason Ryan needs to get his facts straight on the Bridge to Nowhere. The Knik Arm is a body of water, not a town where 50 people reside. The Knik Bridge would connect Anchorage, AK (pop. 260,283) to Wasilla, AK (pop. 8,471). Many of the people who live in Wasilla work in Anchorage, easily a 45-50 mile commute one way. I believe the bridge Mr. Ryan is referring to would be from Ketchikan, Alaska (pop. 14,500) to Gravina Island (pop. 50) and on the island is Ketchikan's airport, which has six passenger flights most days. And, it is Alaska's one lone (Republican) member of the the lower house of Congress, Representative Don Young who wants it built. Google it!
Posted by: Kim | Jul 30, 2007 9:13:14 PM
It couldn't have happened to a kinder, gentler, more compassionate conservative than Ted Stephens.
Posted by: Eric Paul | Jul 30, 2007 9:21:22 PM
what a surprise! ....(yawn)...
Posted by: earthnotflat | Jul 30, 2007 9:23:12 PM
Isn't this the guy who said the internet was a series of tubes?
Posted by: Coolz | Jul 30, 2007 9:33:30 PM
What was that again the Republicans MOTTO, FAMILY VALUES Yeah sure.
Posted by: Ted Cortese | Jul 30, 2007 9:37:26 PM
I'm a republican, but this guy is a complete joke. He's the most corrupt and unapologetic greed man that I have ever known to walk the halls of congress. The rest of his pathetic life in jail wouldn't even be a start to what he deserves!
Posted by: Eric | Jul 30, 2007 9:57:53 PM
Another day another Republicrite.
Posted by: Nbebe Mujura | Jul 30, 2007 10:02:05 PM
Wag the dog. They are just trying to make Gonzales look sincere since he's in hot water over the firing of US Attorneys who did successfully prosecute Republicans. Unless Stevens is charged with a crime, this is a ruse.
Posted by: Brad | Jul 30, 2007 10:11:11 PM
What else is new???...99 percent of all these scum bags are on the take!!! well maybe 80 percent, and it doesn't matter who they are or what party dem or rep!
Posted by: stephen | Jul 30, 2007 10:24:28 PM
I'm a liberal. I've taken my cheap shots. I felt I had a right to take a few cheap shots hearing conservatives blame me for all the world's ills. I think Feinstein would be looked it to also. Her husband has made money and Feinstein is on the defense appropriation committee. Switching bandits isn't any solution.
Posted by: Mike Johnson | Jul 31, 2007 12:00:27 AM
Good, another Republican seat that will be lost come 2008. Finally, they are being caught and exposed for what they really are.
Posted by: ron | Jul 31, 2007 12:17:07 AM
Ted Stevens is a decent family guy. Honest, hard working and honorable..That is why he continues to get re elected each year. so the bridge from Ketchakan to Gravina Island will serve only 50 people (less after the toursist season), maybe we could have given them a new boat each year, winters in Hawaii, free medical care to those who live there full time.
The auto dealers on Ketchakan do a thriving business, and you all wonder if ted doesn't take care of his flock by fleecing the taxpayers!!
Posted by: lakeaustinman | Jul 31, 2007 12:18:14 AM
I don't care what party a guilty person is with, if he is a crook take him down. Just like William Jefferson of Louisiana (another crook)
Posted by: tony | Jul 31, 2007 12:42:25 AM
No wonder our country is going down the hills,i never knew that in china a represent of the country people will be zble to build a bridge for the convenience of 50 families!
is time to put in jail to this corrupts representants of our decadent socity.
Posted by: JCT JUSTICE | Jul 31, 2007 1:08:24 AM
((( GASP!))) Another GOP crook? Wow... this is NEWS! oh wait... strike that... this is DAILY news....
Posted by: GOP-CROOKS | Jul 31, 2007 2:03:49 AM
Another Republican oil crook
What a sham this is.
Vote the rest of these Republican perverts out of their money stealing offices!
I am,
George
Posted by: George Vreeland Hill | Jul 31, 2007 2:42:38 AM
Welcome to the Untited States of Special Interest!
Any questions???
Posted by: John | Jul 31, 2007 4:35:06 AM
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