Bill Allen, key figure in Alaska corruption scandal, dies

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A central figure in a corruption scandal that rocked Alaska politics, has died. Bill Allen was 85. A funeral home in Colorado says Allen died on June 29 but a person who answered the phone there declined to provide more details. Allen was CEO of the oil services company VECO Corp. and a former publisher of the now-defunct Anchorage Times newspaper. In 2009, he was sentenced to three years in prison on charges including bribery related to efforts to win support for legislation favored by the company. He served a shorter period.