By Patrick Danner and Dan Christensen, Miami Herald, May 9, 2008
9 May 2008 // Former PBS&J Chairman Richard A. Wickett set to be sentenced Friday afternoon for his role in a long-running scheme to subvert campaign-finance laws has implicated the engineering consulting firm's current boss in the scandal.
Wickett, who pleaded guilty to two counts of violating federal campaign laws in October, is fighting to avoid prison by alleging it was his superiors -- including current Chairman and CEO John Zumwalt -- who authorized the company to reimburse employees for political contributions. Wickett, also PBS&J's longtime CFO and treasurer, claims responsibility for cutting and distributing the reimbursement checks.
The U.S. Attorney's Office has said in a court filing that it does not appear Zumwalt was involved with disguised or reimbursed contributions, and PBS&J has denied it. ''John Zumwalt did not approve any campaign reimbursements,'' said Mark Schnapp, a Miami lawyer representing PBS&J.
New court filings by prosecutors provide fresh details about the scheme, including that the ''fraudulent activity occurred in federal campaigns across the nation'' and ``affected campaigns for numerous state offices inside and out side of ... Florida.''
Wickett says the scheme began in the 1980s and continued into 2004.
Court filings have now identified a third politician, U.S. Rep. Don Young of Alaska, as the recipient of a $500 contribution in 2003 from a PBS&J manager who was later illegally reimbursed by the company.
The reimbursement request was presented to Zumwalt, and Wickett requested the check, Wickett says in court papers. U.S. Sen Mel Martinez, a Florida Republican, and former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, a Georgia Democrat, were previously identified as having received illegal contributions from PBS&J's executives.
The Wall Street Journal reported last July that Young, a Republican who is Alaska's lone House member, is under criminal investigation by the Justice Department for his involvement with an Alaska oil services company whose employees have contributed more than $150,000 to Young's campaigns since 1996.
Government court filings cite other illegal campaign contributions by PBS&J executives, but prosecutors did not identify those who made them or the politicians who got them.
Prosecutors have alleged the practice of making illegal campaign contributions was ''institutionalized'' at PBS&J and was done to increase its chances of winning government contracts, though company representatives have denied it ever won contracts because of the contributions.
Three PBS&J officials have been convicted in the scandal. Former CFO W. Scott DeLoach received two years in prison in July for using ''straw-men'' to illegally contribute $11,000 to Martinez's 2004 campaign. DeLoach's sentence runs concurrently with an eight-year prison term for his part in embezzling millions from PBS&J. The embezzlement, which lasted more than a dozen years, spawned the investigation into the campaign donations.
H. Michael Dye, who served as PBS&J's chairman and chief executive from 2000 until his retirement in 2002, pleaded guilty to filing false statements in August and was sentenced to a year's probation with six months of home confinement and fined $20,000. The government wants Wickett to get 18 to 24 months, but Wickett claims he should get less because Dye was more culpable.
Wickett succeeded Dye as chairman. The mantle of chief executive went to Zumwalt, who became chairman in 2005 when Wickett retired.
PBS&J has stated in regulatory filings that it has cooperated with the U.S. Attorney's Office and FBI and doesn't expect to be charged. Meanwhile, the Federal Elections Commission in October launched its own investigation into the illegal campaign contributions and improper use of political action committees.
Wickett pleaded guilty to conspiring to make false statments with the FEC and conspiring to commit mail and wire fraud. Prosecutors allege that PBS&J employees were directed to claim false mileage expenses as a way to be reimbursed for political contributions.
In seeking the lighter sentence, Wickett pointed the finger at Dye and Zumwalt for the illegal acts that occurred at PBS&J.
'Richard Wickett did not devise those institutionalized practices at PBSJ, and he lacked the authority to `approve' reimbursements, which resided with Mr. Dye from 1990 to 2002 and thereafter with Mr. Zumwalt,'' according to court papers filed last week by Wickett.
Schnapp, who had not seen Wickett's court filing, refuted the charge that Zumwalt was involved. ''It has been fully investigated already by the FBI,'' Schnapp said.
PBS&J is an employee-owned company founded in Miami in the early 1960s. It moved its headquarters to Tampa in 2006, but employs about 300 in South Florida.