Former red light camera CEO pleads guilty to bribing Columbus officials

Posted Friday, June 19th 2015 @ 1pm  by WTVN Newsroom

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTVN)--The former CEO of a red-light camera company has pled guilty to issuing bribes to city officials in Columbus and Cincinnati, to keep the cameras up and running. 

Karen Finley, of Arizona, admitted in court that between 2005 and 2013, the company made campaign contributions to elected officials.

According to the Dispatch, the bribes were taken by the Ohio Democratic Party, and the campaign of Andrew Ginther solicited for the bribe to keep the cameras operating in late 2011.

In a release from the US District Attorney's Office, "According to admissions made in connection with her plea, Finley and others, including another executive of the company, agreed to provide the conduit campaign contributions with the understanding that the elected public officials would assist the company in obtaining or retaining municipal contracts, including a photo red light enforcement contract with the City of Columbus."

Finley is charged with conspiracy to commit federal programs bribery.

Ginther released a statement on Friday, saying "I had absolutely no knowledge of these activities and did not take part in them. While I am not a subject of this inquiry, I have been asked to provide records that may help the investigation into Redflex.

I've fully cooperated and will continue to assist in bringing these people to justice. In light of these charges, I have asked City Attorney Rick Pfeiffer to conduct an investigation into any current contracts between the city and Redflex."

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at http://ift.tt/jcXqJW.

http://ift.tt/1nUFgCW Former red light camera CEO pleads guilty to bribing Columbus officials via top scoring links : news http://ift.tt/1FrIB4f

Put the internet to work for you.

Delete or edit this Recipe