Coal Company Personnel Found Guilty of Bribery Concerning Pollution

[ASmellyOgre]

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/07/coal-company-executive-and-lawyer-convicted-of-bribing-alabama-lawmaker/

On Monday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the conviction of a coal company executive and a lawyer on charges related to bribing an Alabama state lawmaker.
The two men—David Roberson, vice president of Government and Regulatory Affairs for coal firm Drummond Company, and Joel Gilbert, a partner at law firm Balch & Bingham—paid Alabama State Representative Oliver Robinson $360,000 to oppose an environmental clean-up program near Robinson's district.
The site had tested positive for "elevated levels of arsenic, lead, and benzo(a)pyrene," according to the Justice Department.
If ABC Coke, the Drummond subsidiary in the area, had been found responsible for the pollution, it "could have cost the company tens of millions of dollars in clean-up costs and fines," a DOJ press release stated.
Robinson, a Democrat who served in Alabama's House of Representatives from 1998 to 2016, pleaded guilty in 2017 to charges of conspiracy, bribery, fraud, and tax evasion. In a non-binding plea agreement last September, Robinson agreed to provide substantial assistance to prosecutors on the bribery case. He has not yet been sentenced.

Oh, and bonus sliminess points:

A Tuesday afternoon statement from the Drummond Company read: "We are disappointed by the jury’s decision to convict our employee, David Roberson. While we respect the judicial process, we consider David to be a man of integrity who would not knowingly engage in wrongdoing."

[Zonesylvania]

Yet another shameless attack on clean coal and loss of many jobs imminent! sad!

[Zakk]

Absolute pieces of shit

[Recurracy]

here is a list of surprised people:

[rufia]

I'm more surprised they were found guilty of bribery, given how much you seem to be able to get away with.