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Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Kott/Weyhrauch Pre-Trial 3 - The Charges

[Note: I'm not an attorney. If I get something wrong here and you are an attorney or otherwise know this stuff, please leave a comment to correct it. I'll try to qualify everything as I write. This is all "as I understand it" and as best as I can read my notes.]

From the Case Summary in the Court Computer System (available free in the Clerk's Office 2nd Floor of the Anchorage Federal Building and from the May 3, 2007 indictment)
Count 1: 18:371 Conspiring to commit extortion under color of official right, bribery, and honest services mail and wire fraud. (As I understand this from the Anderson trial, 'color of official right' relates to the defendants having been public officials and thus were doing things in that capacity.)

Count 2: 18:1951(a) and 2 Interference with commerce by extortion induced under color of official right.

[The Summary skips from Count 2 to Count 4. The May 5 Indictment has "(Kott)" written at the end of Count 2 and adds Count 3. Count 3 is the same as Count 2 except a) it has 'Attempted" at the beginning and "(Weyhrauch).

Count 4: 18:666(a)(1)(B) [Some might think Devil worshipers wrote this part of the code] Bribery concerning programs receiving Federal Funds. (I think this refers to grants and other government programs receiving a minimum amount of federal funding. I think in the Anderson trial it was $10,000 - and that was why they kept asking witnesses how much federal funding their agencies received.)

[In the May 5 indictment Count 4 ends with "(Kott)" and Count 5 is identical except "(Weyhrauch)" is at the end.]]

Count 6:18:1343, 1346 an 2. Honest Services Wire Fraud.
Again - Count 6 is for "(Kott)" and Count 7 is for "(Weyhrauch)" in the indictment.


The Indictment Basically covers:

Introductory/Summary Material (P.1-2)

  • NAMES OF ALL THE ATTORNEYS
  • LIST OF DEFENDANTS AND BRIEF SUMMARY OF CHARGES
INDICTMENT (P. 2)

COUNT ONE (P. 2-21)

  • General Allegations (pp. 3-4 lists key players/entities in case)
    • Peter Kott
    • Kott's Hardwood Flooring
    • Bruce Weyhrauch
    • Company A [clearly VECO]
    • Alaska State Legislature (of which Kott and Weyhrauch were members and which had business with Company A)
    • Company [A] CEO [Bill Allen]
    • Company [A] Vice President [Rick Smith]
    • State Senator A [Confirmed this week by Judge Sedwick as Ben Stevens]
    • Political Polling company with offices in Anchorage [Some blogs and Wikipedia I assume this is as Dittman Research but I couldn't find a more solid source for this.]
    • Suite 604 of a Juneau Hotel [The Baranof] rented by Company A CEO and VP and others.

  • Alaska's Intra-State Natural Gas Pipeline (pp. 4-5)
[Discusses the legislative battle over the pipeline and Company A's interest in this.]
  • The Conspiracy (pp. 6-7)
    • (A) Kott and Weyhrauch "unlawfully obtain[ed] ... money and other property... in agreement for the performance of official acts, in violation of Title 18..."
    • (B) 'corruptly solicit ..anything of value ...for KOTT and WEYHRAUCH ... while an agent for the State...an entity that received more than $10,000 in federal funding [the minimum necessary amount under the charge] ...with the intent . . . would each be influence and rewarded ..."
    • (C) "to devise...a scheme...to defraud...the State of its intangible right to honest services and for the purpose of executing the scheme . . . to ...transmit . . . writing and sounds . . .in communications in interstate commerce by means of wire...in the US mails in violation of Title 18..."
  • Objects of the Conspiracy (pp. 7-8)
    • To provide Kott with money and future employment when he left the legislature for legislative favors
    • To provide Weyhrauch with money for legislative favors
    • For both to use the US mails to carry this out
  • Manner and Means of the Conspiracy (pp8-9)
    • Both (1) 'voting in favor of versions of the PPT [Petroleum Production Tax] bill supported by Company CEO...VP, Company A, and the oil producers
    • Both (2) "lobbying other elected public officials to support versions of the PPT bill that [Company A and friends] favored; and"
    • Both (3) "offering to assist and help [Company A and friends] by providing official support for the natural gas pipeline legislation and the PPT bill."
    • For Kott, additionally, that he got some illegal payments through invoices for flooring work through Kott Hardwood Flooring.
    • For Weyhrauch, that he got extra contractual legal work from Company A.
  • Overt Acts (pp. 9-21)
    • [Each paragraph in the indictment is numbered. As you can see there are 13 pages listing overt acts, starting with paragraph #23 - 75, for over 50. They sound like this:]
    • "24. On or about September 26, 2005. . .in discussing the PPT tax issue and the natural gas pipeline legislation KOTT again told COMPANY VP, 'I just want to be the warden in Barbados' to which COMPANY VP replied that he wanted the 'gas pipeline.'"
    • "27. On January 10, 2006, in a telephone call, KOTT assured COMPANY CEO that KOTT would deliver the gas pipeline legislation for COMPANY CEO as follows,
      • KOTT: I'm going to get this fucking gas line done so I can get out of here.
      • COMPANY CEO: Get the gas, get the gas.
      • KOTT: That's my commitment to you, so...
    • "32. On or about March 29, 2006, KOTT met with COMPANY VP and COMPANY CEO in Suite 604 and described how KOTT had attempted to gain everage over another member of the alaska State Legislature by placing a "hold" on a bill that was important to that state legislator, and how KOTT hoped to use that leverage to get support for COMPANY A's preferred version of the PPT tax bill.
    • "72. On or about July 31, 2006, COMPANY CEO and KOTT discussed how to come up with a "foolproof" plan to get KOTT the additional money."

  • COUNT TWO (pp. 21-22)
  • Interference with Commerce by extortion.... [This pretty much just says each knowingly did this]

  • COUNT FOUR (pp. 23)
The rest is pretty much the same. Listing the count and saying they did it. Counts 6 (p.26) and 7 (p. 27) list specific acts each did - Kott confirming his commitment to COMPANY A by phone AND Weyhrauch writing a letter asking for a job.

Again, this is pretty much an overview of the May 3, 2007 indictment) where you can find more details.

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