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Friend Fingers Stevens at Trial

Government's chief witness acknowledges giving inappropriate gifts to Alaska sen.

By the Associated Press

Posted Sep 30, 2008 4:37 PM CDT
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(AP) – A longtime friend of Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens crossed the powerful lawmaker and testified today as the star witness in the Republican senator's gift-giving trial. The fiercely loyal Stevens did not acknowledge Bill Allen when he entered the courtroom. The two men barely looked at each other as Allen prepared to testify that he gave the senator $250,000 in home renovations and other gifts.

Stevens, 84, is on trial for not disclosing those gifts on Senate financial documents. "That's Ted, right over there," Allen said, pointing across the crowded courtroom. Allen is the linchpin of the case and federal prosecutors sought to bolster his credibility by asking about a backbreaking career that took him from picking crops to learning to weld to running Veco Corp., a multibillion-dollar oil pipeline company.

  (J. Scott Applewhite)
Bill Allen, the chief government witness against Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, arrives at federal court in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008. Allen is a former confidant of Stevens and the founder of oil pipeline company VECO, Corp., which allegedly provided more than $250,000 in free renovations on the senator's...
Bill Allen, the chief government witness against Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, arrives at federal court in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008. Allen is a former confidant of Stevens and the founder of...   (J. Scott Applewhite)
Bill Allen, the chief government witness against Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, arrives at federal court in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008.
Bill Allen, the chief government witness against Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, arrives at federal court in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008.   (J. Scott Applewhite)
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Congress • Alaska • corruption • Ted Stevens • trial • gift • corruption charges

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