LAWFUEL – The Legal Newswire – The search of Republican senator Ted Stevens’ Alaska home reltes to an ongoing investigation into his links with an oil services company, Reuters report.
The FBI and IRS have searched the home in a ski resort in Alaska.
“All I can really say is we are conducting a search at the residence. We can’t go any deeper into detail than that,” said Dave Heller, spokesman for the FBI in Anchorage.
The FBI and IRS entered the senator’s Girdwood, Alaska home in the early afternoon with a search warrant. Television and news media swarmed the two-story alpine ski lodge in the shadow of Mt. Alyeska while agents combed the grounds.
The longest-serving Republican in U.S Senate history, known for delivering billions of federal dollars to his home state, Stevens in a statement said: “My attorneys were advised this morning that federal agents wished to search my home in Girdwood in connection with an ongoing investigation.
“I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence the outcome,” it said.
Girdwood is about 40 miles south of Anchorage, the state’s largest city. The vacation enclave is nestled between Turnagain Arm, a glacial-fed body of water, and densely forested mountains
Stevens, 83, is the subject of a grand-jury investigation into his links with managers of VECO Corp., the state’s largest oil-services company, as well as numerous unrelated fisheries matters.
In May, Bill Allen, then the chief executive of VECO, along with a vice president, Rick Smith, pleaded guilty to several federal corruption charges. The two admitted paying over $400,000 to bribe Alaskan lawmakers.
Allen had been a financial supporter of Stevens’ campaigns and a partner with him on a race horse. He also oversaw a project to remodel Stevens’ Girdwood home in 2000, vetting bills and construction work
