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View Full Version : Feds: Red light camera firm paid for Chicago official’s car, condo




aGameOfThrones
08-18-2014, 12:15 AM
Yousuf Fahimuddin
The former chief executive officer of Redflex, a major red light camera (RLC) vendor, has been indicted on federal corruption charges stemming from a contract with the City of Chicago.
On Wednesday, in addition to former CEO Karen Finley, government prosecutors also indicted John Bills, former Managing Deputy Commissioner at the Department of Transportation, and Bills’ friend Martin O’Malley, who was hired as a contractor by Redflex.

According to the indictment, O’Malley himself was paid $2 million for his services as a contractor, effectively making him one of the company’s highest paid workers. Much of that money was then funneled to Bills, who used it for personal gain. Via Redflex employees, Bills also acquired a Mercedes and a condominium in Arizona. In December 2013, Ars reported on red light cameras nationwide, and in particular, Redflex's four cameras in the central California town of Modesto.

A May 2014 affidavit written by an FBI special agent suggests that Bills likely used some of this money to purchase and store a boat, buy a car, pay for an addition to his Michigan cabin, pay for his girlfriend’s mortgage, pay his own mortgage, pay his kids’ schools, and hire a divorce attorney over the course of several years.

A 2013 Redflex document states that two employees “paid for vacation-related expenses” for Bills “for at least 17 different trips from 2003 through 2010,” which included “hotels, flights, rental cars, golf games and meals” and a computer, for a total value of around $20,000. Karen Finley was vice president of operations at Redflex from 2001 until late 2005, and then was promoted to CEO from 2006 until February 2013.

The three named defendants face 23 counts of mail fraud, wire fraud, bribery and other charges. They could each be sentenced to decades in prison if convicted: each fraud count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while the other counts have lesser penalties.

The city had hired Redflex to provide automated enforcement cameras, known formally as its Digital Automated Red Light Enforcement Program (DARLEP), from October 2003 until February 2013. That was when Mayor Rahm Emanuel dropped Redflex and its 384 cameras after Bills was shown to have accepted a hotel room that Redflex paid for—but city officials believe that the corruption ran far deeper. In October 2013, Chicago selected Xerox ACS to replace Redflex as its new RLC operator.

continue: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/08/feds-red-light-camera-firm-paid-for-chicago-officials-car-condo-and-more/

TheTexan
08-18-2014, 12:34 AM
It's very good that they caught that. Now the earnings from the red light cameras can go to better use. Maybe they can use the money to make more red light cameras?

tangent4ronpaul
08-18-2014, 06:13 PM
When they came out here they were shoved down our throats "to protect the children" (If they use that excuse, you know it's bad...). So they started putting them in front of all the schools... and left them on 24/7/365... The deal was that they would pay for and install and operate the camera's and would get 80 cents out of every dollar of revenue they produced.

The big question: Who did they bribe...

-t