AL Coal Exec, Lawyer Convicted On Fed Bribery, Wire Fraud, Conspiracy; Scam To Dodge Superfund Costs
A coal company executive and a lawyer have been convicted in federal court of bribing an Alabama lawmaker to oppose Environmental Protection Agency plans that could have made the company help pay to clean up a polluted Superfund site.
David L. Roberson, 67, a vice president at the Drummond Company, based in Birmingham, and Joel I. Gilbert, 46, a lawyer who worked for the coal company, were convicted late on Friday by a jury in District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, the Justice Department said on Monday.
The men were found guilty of bribing a former state representative, Oliver L. Robinson Jr., to oppose plans by the E.P.A. to place a polluted site in north Birmingham on a priority list, which could have made Drummond liable for tens of millions of dollars in cleanup costs and fines, the Justice Department said.
From 2015 to 2016, Mr. Robinson, whose district was next to the Superfund site, was paid $360,000 by Mr. Gilbert’s law firm through Mr. Robinson’s nonprofit organization, the Oliver Robinson Foundation, which was meant to fund literacy programs, the department said.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/24/us/david-roberson-joel-gilbert-drummond-bribery.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront
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