Bill Allen

American chief executive (1937–2022)

William James Allen (April 6, 1937 – June 29, 2022) was an American businessman who was the CEO of the Alaska oilfield services company VECO Corporation. VECO was an Alaska-based oil pipeline service and construction company founded by Wayne Veltri (VECO is short for Veltri Co).²

From Wikipedia’s article on Bill Allen (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Jun 4, 1937, died 2022.¹

About

Bill Allen was born in Socorro, New Mexico, and at the age of 16 left for the oil fields of Alaska to become a welder to help support his family. VECO began as a one-truck welding and repair operation that grew to become a major player in the Alaskan and worldwide oil industries' support services business. He built a for-profit prison in Barbados as well. VECO also was a worldwide player in the oil industry, having divisions in many major oil markets, including Sudan, Russia, Mexico, Venezuela, and Syria. VECO had a major impact on the economy of Alaska and employed over 5,000 people worldwide. Allen was later prosecuted for sexually assaulting minors, a crime he had been protected from prior after lying under oath during Ted Stevens's corruption trial, costing the Senator re-election in 2008.

From Wikipedia’s article on Bill Allen, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.²

Companies

VECO CorporationFounder⁶

Career

Occupation: publisher.⁴

Date not recordedFounded VECO Corporation³

Personal life

CitizenshipUnited States⁵

Legal issues and controversies

On May 7, 2007, Allen, along with VECO's Vice President for Community & Government Affairs Rick Smith, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Anchorage in the Alaska political corruption probe to charges of extortion, bribery, and conspiracy to impede the Internal Revenue Service. The charges involved bribing Alaska lawmakers to vote in favor of an oil tax law favored by the VECO that was the subject of vigorous debate during the regular and two special sessions of the Alaska Legislature in 2006. Bill Allen's testimony, at the trial of his former friend, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, helped secure Stevens' conviction, in U.S. District Court on charges of felonious corruption.

Bill Allen pleaded guilty and could have faced 9–10 years. Instead, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison and fined $750,000.00. He was released from a halfway house in New Mexico on November 22, 2011.

Later, it emerged that Allen might have perjured himself at trial, seemingly due to federal prosecutors promising he could avoid prosecution for paying for underage girls to travel across state lines for sex if he lied about Stevens under oath. During a review of the case triggered by allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, investigators for the United States Department of Justice discovered a previously undocumented interview between Allen and prosecutors. In this interview, Allen stated that the fair market value of the repairs to Stevens' house was around $80,000, far less than the $250,000 he testified to at trial. Moreover, Allen said in the interview that he didn't recall talking to Bob Persons, a friend of Stevens, regarding the repair bill for Stevens' house. This directly contradicted Allen's testimony at trial, where he claimed Stevens had asked him to give Persons a note Stevens had sent asking for a bill for the repair work. At trial, Allen said Persons had told him the note shouldn't be taken seriously because "Ted's just covering his ass". The notes of this interview were never given to the defense, as required by U.S. criminal law. The discovery of this interview was cited by U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in his decision to move to dismiss Stevens' indictment before sentencing—effectively vacating his conviction. "I have determined that it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the indictment and not proceed with a new trial," said Holder.