Feb. 12, 2008 — Prosecutors pulled out the big guns in District Court Tuesday, calling former DPNR official Hollis Griffin to the stand to detail how he, former commissioners Dean Plaskett and Marc Biggs and others conducted an elaborate bribery and kickback scheme.
Plaskett once pulled a knife on Griffin when the scheme started to unravel, Griffin testified. Plaskett and Biggs are being tried on St. Thomas on charges of conspiracy, bribery and obstruction of justice in what prosecutors say was a scheme that defrauded the government of $1.4 million.
Griffin has already pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy for the role he played in the operation, and has been sentenced to four years in prison. In exchange for his continued cooperation with the government, prosecutors could recommend that Griffin serve less time, but only if he testifies truthfully while on the stand. A federal judge ultimately has the final say on whether to accept the recommendation, Griffin explained Tuesday.
Fielding questions from U.S. prosecuting attorney Armando Bonilla, Griffin said he met Plaskett while living in the Washington, D.C., area in the early 1980s. After Plaskett moved back to the territory to further his government career, Griffin moved to Atlanta, Ga., where he became friends with Brent Blyden and Esmond Modeste, also charged as defendants in the case.
Upon hearing of Plaskett's appointment in 1999 as commissioner of DPNR, Griffin said he called his "old friend" to offer his congratulations. During the discussion, Plaskett mentioned that he was having difficulties filling some of the department's open positions, including top spots in the Energy and Environmental Planning divisions, Griffin said.
Griffin was subsequently hired as director of DPNR's Division of Environmental Planning, while Blyden was brought down to fill a similar office in the department's Division of Permits. During their first few months in office, Griffin said, Blyden came to him and suggested that they form a sham company that could be awarded a $125,000 permit-review contract, which involved going over plans and specifications needed to secure permits for the construction of a coker plant at Hovensa's St. Croix facilities.
From there, the two — along with help from co-conspirator Earl E. Brewley, a former V.I. Fire Services employee — birthed Elite Technical Services, an enterprise, Griffin said, that would allow the group to pocket hundreds of thousands in government funds.
"We did intend to get the plans reviewed, though," Griffin said. "We were going to make sure that everything got done. The plan was to subcontract the work, then that individual would get a portion of the contract money and we would keep the rest."
Brewley was brought in as Elite's vice president, while Griffin's girlfriend from Atlanta headed the company, he added.
Without knowing about the Elite scam, Plaskett and Biggs came to Griffin with a separate plan to use money within the budget for the Division of Environmental Protection to "fund companies that could be awarded contracts" in exchange for kickbacks, Griffin testified. When asked by Bonilla what his reaction was to the proposition, Griffin added that he "listened attentively."
"If these are commissioners, and they're saying this to me, I’m thinking, 'Let's roll with this — let's make it work,'" he said, adding that from that point on, the three — with help from Brewley, Modeste and Blyden — met frequently to discuss which contracts they were interested in, and how much money could be made from the deals.
Contracts
At least eight contracts, valued at around $1.4 million, were authorized and pushed through the government's process by Biggs and Plaskett, Bonilla alleged during opening arguments presented Monday. The prosecution highlighted each contract in detail during Tuesday's hearing, showing documents signed by both commissioners — including miscellaneous disbursement vouchers authorizing that the vendors, who did little or no work on the projects, get paid in full.
Griffin said that in:
— March 2000, he told Plaskett about the Hovensa permit contract, for which Plaskett received a $25,000 kickback. When asked how he knew that Plaskett took the money, Griffin said that once Hovensa sent payments, the checks were deposited into an unspecified bank. The funds were then withdrawn, with Griffin paying both Blyden and Plaskett their cut in cash, Griffin said;
— In April 2001, Elite was awarded a contract worth close to $90,000 to conduct hazardous material training seminars for local first responders, such as firefighters, police and emergency medical technicians. In a letter sent to Biggs, Plaskett said three companies had bid on the project, as required by law, and Elite was selected to perform the services. Supporting financial documents show that the project was subsidized, in large part, by federal funds. Griffin said that he, Plaskett and Biggs split about $15,000 from those funds. The training was actually conducted by retired firefighter Benjamin Santana for about $5,000.
— On May 2, 2001, a Title V Air Permit Contract valued at $300,000 was awarded by Biggs and Griffin to PubSafe Engineering Consultants out of Atlanta to monitor the level of pollution emitted by several of the territory's biggest industrial companies. Griffin said the contract was originally awarded to a different vendor, but was selected by Biggs and Plaskett because PubSafe principal David Tucker had agreed to pay the group a kickback, which was channeled though another company owned by Modeste. At the end of the contract, however, Tucker said he would not be making good on his promise to pay the group a third kickback, which Griffin said angered the two commissioners, and took PubSafe out of the running for other contract awards.
In particular, PubSafe had been favored as the contractor on a separate project mandated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Griffin said the work primarily entailed permitting all medical-waste incinerators at the territory's two hospitals. The contract was subsequently awarded to C&R Environmental Design, resulting in kickbacks totaling $20,000 to both Plaskett and Biggs, he added.
Investigation
Before leaving DPNR and moving back to Atlanta in 2004, Griffin said, Plaskett took him to meet with prominent V.I. businessman Leroy Marchena, who has been charged with conspiring to cover up the scam, and thwarting a joint local and federal investigation into Elite's operations.
"The day after the meeting, Plaskett said that Marchena had found out from his contact in the V.I. Inspector General's Office that they had a file on all the checks made out to Elite," Griffin said. "I was in Plaskett's office when he made a call to the inspector general and said that a disgruntled employee was responsible for making all these allegations and accusations of impropriety regarding the Hovensa contract."
Though the investigation "died down" for awhile, it subsequently came back under public scrutiny, Griffin said. A subsequent meeting with Marchena at Pilgrim's Terrance on St. Thomas revealed that the Elite file had been removed from the inspector general's office, he added.
The removal of the file indicated the matter had now triggered a federal investigation in which the FBI might be involved, Griffin said.
Griffin received a visit from Blyden and Modeste after he moved back to Atlanta in July 2004. They told Griffin they had founded a company whose president said he was willing to say that he had performed the Hovensa permit review.
"I told them to tell the commissioners that I'm not going to get involved with them, that everybody will do their time," Griffin said on the stand.
He added that federal agents, accompanied by representatives from the Internal Revenue Bureau, had visited both his house and office, asking for Griffin&#
39;s cooperation and whatever information he had on the scam. Meanwhile, Barry Bennett — president of the company allegedly willing to say he had conducted the permit review — also visited Griffin.
"At first Mr. Bennett said he was going to do it," Griffin said. "But on his next visit, he said he's not going to get involved in anything."
After consulting "with his network" in Atlanta, Griffin said, he agreed to cooperate with federal authorities, and subsequently taped two cell-phone calls to Plaskett, along with a meeting held in Plaskett's St. Croix office in 2006.
In one phone call, Plaskett said he had heard Griffin was traveling back and forth between the territory and mainland to participate in meetings with law-enforcement officials. When asked while on the stand who had alleged that Griffin was cooperating with the FBI, Griffin identified former V.I. Fire Services employee Donald Charles. Earlier in the day, Griffin also said Charles had received a kickback on an employee-training contract awarded to Global Business Solutions, another company headed by Modeste.
In other recorded phone calls, Plaskett asks Griffin if he is cooperating with law-enforcement officials, which Griffin denies.
Wearing a wire and camera provided by the FBI, Griffin taped his subsequent meeting in Plaskett's St. Croix office. Before Bonilla played the tape in court, Griffin described the meeting as "animated," laced with "expletives and profanity on both sides."
"At one point, the commissioner pulled a knife on me, unprovoked, and called me a rat," Griffin said.
In the recording, Plaskett said Griffin and other employees had moved away and left him "holding the bag" while local and federal authorities conducted their investigation. Though Plaskett does say that he would tell investigators that Griffin was "working for me and doing a good fucking job," he also adds that Griffin had "endangered me with simple things," such as adding his initials on requisition and contract documents, which were shown in court to have been signed by either one or both commissioners.
However, Plaskett added that he had not met many of the players involved in the scam, and denied having any involvement in taking bribes or kickbacks in exchange for government contracts.
"I have to do what I have to do," Plaskett said. "I had nothing to do with none of that fuck."
Defense attorneys will have the chance to cross-examine Griffin when the trial resumes at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
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