Former Alaska Lawmaker Sentenced On Bribery Charges

Alaska's former state House speaker was sentenced to six years in federal prison Friday for accepting $9,000 in bribes from the founder of an oil field services company.

Pete Kott, a Republican who represented a suburb of Anchorage for 14 years, also was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine.

U.S. District Court Judge John Sedwick bumped up the prison term beyond sentencing guidelines after concluding that Kott had committed perjury during his trial. He also said the legislation Kott took bribes to influence -- a revised tax law on Alaska's principal industry, crude oil extraction -- affected every Alaskan.

"The amount of money was in the hundreds of millions, if not billions," Sedwick said.

Kott was convicted in September of bribery, extortion and conspiracy for his dealings with executives of VECO Corp., a major Alaska firm that performed maintenance, design and construction contracts for petroleum producers.

Besides the cash, federal prosecutors said Kott accepted a political poll paid on his behalf by VECO and that he received the promise of a job with the company after he left the Alaska legislature. The federal court jury acquitted him of wire fraud. |Read more|