Senator Ted Stevens's Alaska Home Searched by FBI, IRS Agents

By Julianna Goldman

July 31 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Ted Stevens's home in Alaska was searched yesterday by Federal Bureau of Investigation and Internal Revenue Service agents, an FBI official said.

Agents arrived at Stevens's home in Girdwood, just south of Anchorage, after 2 p.m. Alaska time, according to David Heller, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Anchorage office. Heller wouldn't comment on the nature of the investigation.

Stevens, 83, is being investigated over his relationship with VECO Corp., an oil-field engineering firm. Federal investigators and a grand jury looking into public corruption in Alaska are examining a remodeling project done in 2000 on Stevens's home, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

The investigation, which began last August, has led to guilty pleas by VECO Chief Executive Officer Bill Allen and a VECO vice president, Rick Smith. Both pleaded guilty to bribery and extortion connected with paying off state lawmakers, the Anchorage newspaper said.

The three members of Alaska's congressional delegation, Stevens, Senator Lisa Murkowski and Representative Don Young -- all Republicans -- are facing ethical questions. Last week, Murkowski sold a piece of land she bought because an ethics complaint raised questions about whether she paid below-market price. Young also is being investigated for his ties to VECO, the Wall Street Journal reported July 24.

Ben Stevens

Additionally, the Anchorage Daily News reported that four current or former state lawmakers have been indicted and are awaiting trial on corruption charges. Former State Senator Ben Stevens, Ted Stevens's son, who hasn't been charged with wrongdoing, was one of the legislators whose offices were searched last August as part of the investigation, the newspaper said.

According to a contractor who worked on Stevens's addition, Allen reviewed all the invoices before Stevens and his wife paid them, the newspaper reported.

``I continue to believe this investigation should proceed to its conclusion without any appearance that I have attempted to influence its outcome,'' Stevens said yesterday in an e- mailed statement. ``I will continue my policy of not commenting on this investigation until it has concluded.''

It's rare for investigators to execute a search warrant after they've announced they are already investigating an individual, said Bill Mateja, a former Justice Department attorney and now a partner at the Fish & Richardson law firm in Dallas.

Investigators typically execute a search warrant when they don't want to risk the chance that evidence may be destroyed or moved.

``Obviously, the government believes that Senator Stevens might hide something and certainly was not willing to trust that he, a person that is a United States senator, is going to willfully hand over whatever information they may be seeking,'' Mateja said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net ;

Last Updated: July 31, 2007 00:07 EDT

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