Ex-utility exec pleads guilty to $1B fraud in South Carolina

How the rich get richer.

https://news.yahoo.com/ex-utility-exec-pleads-guilty-170056541.html

JEFFREY COLLINS and MICHELLE LIU
,Associated Press•July 23, 2020


Nearly three years after leading a failed project to build two nuclear reactors in South Carolina, an executive in charge of the construction pleaded guilty Thursday to taking more than $1 billion from the pockets of ratepayers and investors.

Former SCANA Corp. Executive Vice President Stephen Byrne said little beyond answering the judge's yes or no questions as he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Byrne agreed to tell investigators everything he knows about the lies and deception SCANA and its subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas used to keep regulators approving rate increases and investors to keep supporting the reactors.

The lies were told to regulators, investors on earnings calls and in press releases and presentations numerous times, authorities said.

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Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh was also named in those court papers. No one else has been charged. Prosecutors have refused to say if they are going after anyone else, but Byrne's indictment mentions two other executives without naming them.

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