Former Alaska State Speaker of the House Peter Kott Sentenced on Public Corruption...

Former Alaska State Speaker of the House Peter Kott Sentenced on Public
Corruption Charges

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --Peter Kott, a former elected
member of the Alaska House of Representatives and former Alaska Speaker of the
House, has been sentenced to 72 months in prison in Anchorage, Alaska,
Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced
today.

Chief U.S. District Judge John W. Sedwick for the District of Alaska also
ordered Kott to pay a $10,000 fine and serve three years of supervised
release.

In calculating Kott's sentence, Judge Sedwick found that portions of Kott's
testimony at trial constituted perjury and enhanced Kott's sentence
accordingly. Judge Sedwick also found that the advisory Sentencing Guidelines
were insufficient to provide a fair and just sentence given Kott's conduct,
and departed upward to a sentence of 72 months.

On Sept. 25, 2007, a federal jury in Anchorage convicted Kott of bribery,
extortion, and conspiracy for corruptly soliciting and receiving financial
benefits from VECO Corporation in exchange for performing official acts in the
Alaska State Legislature on the company's behalf.

Evidence at trial showed that Kott, while serving as a member in the state
legislature, solicited bribes from and took action to benefit the financial
interests of VECO Corporation, a major Alaska oil services company. Trial
evidence, including more than 60 recordings of conversations involving Kott
and former VECO executives, showed that Kott repeatedly promised to cast votes
in VECO's favor on a key petroleum production tax proposal pending before the
Alaska legislature. In exchange, Kott received cash, checks and the promise of
a future job with VECO. The VECO executives who testified at trial, former
Chief Executive Officer Bill J. Allen and former Vice President of Community
Affairs and Government Relations Richard L. Smith, pleaded guilty in May 2007
to providing more than $400,000 in corrupt payments to public officials from
the state of Alaska.

This case was prosecuted by trial attorneys Nicholas A. Marsh and Edward P.
Sullivan of the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section, headed by Chief
William M. Welch, II, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph W. Bottini and James
A. Goeke from the District of Alaska. The case is being investigated by the
FBI and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigative Division.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Justice, +1-202-514-2008, TDD: +1-202-514-1888