Politics

Ted Stevens trial fallout: The alleged plot to kill Bill Allen's nephew?

U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens was convicted almost two months ago in federal court, but it seems nearly every day a new allegation of misconduct is leveled against the government's handling of the case.

The latest came on Tuesday when Stevens' lawyers filed a motion for a hearing to explore allegations by Dave Anderson, the nephew of Bill Allen's, who insists in a letter that the government promised him, family and friends immunity in exchange for him testifying at Stevens' trial.

This is a complex story, but it boils down to Anderson claiming the government broke its agreement with him. Along with that, Anderson details some reasons why he wanted to ensure he had an immunity agreement with the Feds, including because he was worried his Uncle Allen was going to kill him.

In the letter, Anderson mentions says I was aware of a plot by Allen and his son to have Anderson murdered. Anderson writes that I, Tony Hopfinger, saw "documents under seal regarding the murder-for-hire scheme."

That is incorrect. I have never seen any such documents under seal. But last year, a source did verbally share with me information from a sealed affidavit that was supposedly filed in federal court. The affidavit, I was told, alleged that Allen and his son, Mark Allen, discussed a scheme to harm or kill Anderson sometime between late 2005 and spring 2006. The scheme was picked up by FBI surveillance but it never unfolded, my source claimed.

This is a juicy tidbit that I have never reported, but it almost made it into one of my stories last year. (I held off reporting it because it came from one source who did not wish to be named.) At the time, I was trying to understand the strained relationship between Anderson and Allen.

I first learned about the family feud when Allen testified at a corruption trial in fall 2007. He was asked under cross-examination if he ever intended to kill Anderson. Allen answered "no," but did say he was upset with his nephew.

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In another trial in fall 2007, Allen testified that Anderson was blackmailing him over the remodeling of Stevens' Girdwood home. Anderson was the foreman on the project. (In my reporting, I learned the feud also had to do with Kirsten Deacon, daughter of Jerry Ward, a former state lawmaker who has been linked to the Alaska political corruption scandal. Deacon and Allen dated until around 2004. Then Anderson started dating Deacon and this apparently upset his uncle. Anderson and Deacon are still dating today.)

At the time of the two trials last year, a source told me about the sealed affidavit describing an alleged scheme by Allen and his son to harm or kill Anderson. In late October 2007, I asked Bob Bundy, Bill Allen's lawyer, about the allegation. Bundy told me that Allen never planned to kill Anderson.

"Bill was very upset but he was just talking," Bundy told me last year. "People talk about a lot of crap, you know, when they're angry, and I would hope that people would never take seriously a lot of crap I said if I was recorded on tape"

If you want to know more about the murder allegations and the made-for-TV, Allen family feud, check out my story, "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," from earlier this year.

Here's an excerpt from that story detailing the feud

Dave Anderson says he was once his uncle's "right hand man," a trusted employee, and heavily involved in Allen's pet political projects. But in mid-2004, he suddenly fell out of favor with his uncle. The issue was personal - Allen's girlfriend left him and started dating Anderson. Allen's pride was wounded, Anderson claims, and his uncle fired him and ordered him to leave Alaska.

Anderson says that except for a brief trip to New Mexico, he stayed in Anchorage as Allen continued to threaten him and his girlfriend. In late 2004, an Anchorage Police officer responded to a call made by the girlfriend, who said Allen, allegedly drunk, was threatening to come to her house where Anderson was staying, according to the officer's report. No charges were filed. A series of letters and other correspondence provided by Anderson show the dispute reaching a boil in fall 2005. The documents also reveal that at least Anderson thought the Stevens project and other work he did for his uncle might raise questions and should be kept quiet. Anderson claims he never blackmailed Allen about such issues. He was seeking only a "proper severance" for his 25 years at VECO, he says.

In an Oct. 3, 2005, letter to his uncle's then-lawyer, Jack Miller, Anderson wrote that he was worried for his life (Miller declined to comment for this story):

"Before I was fired from VECO Bill spent months threatening me with physical harm and beyond... I was told by Bill personally and repeatedly that I was not allowed to live in Alaska. And if I was in Alaska -anywhere in Alaska - he would 'stomp me into a mud hole.'

Anderson continued:

"My house was packed up in August of last year by VECO employees. Bill personally oversaw the project. People took my personal property and rummaged through my home. He 'allowed' me to come to Alaska just to pick my things up and to head back out to New Mexico... About two weeks ago I drove by my home which I lived in and paid on for fifteen years and guess what? VECO employees demolished my home and removed it."

According to the Anchorage Building Department, VECO was granted a permit to demolish a mobile home at Anderson's former Anchorage address in August 2005. In the same letter, Anderson tells Allen's lawyer that he'd been a loyal employee who managed many of his uncle's inside political jobs.

"As you may or may not be aware of, Bill had me doing a lot of different work for VECO and yes it is true I worked on Senator Stevens' house in Girdwood and other peoples' personal projects as well. I made political contributions on behalf of Bill by him giving me the cash, me depositing it and then (me) writing a check...I never once have disclosed ANY ... sensitive information I have....political, business or personal...although of course, as you know, I have been accused of doing just that."

On Oct. 18, 2005, Anderson again wrote Miller, asking Allen's lawyer to bring the dispute to an end:

"Bill has completely exhausted all of my patience with threats of death and violence or (me) not being able to work in or live in Alaska. I am completely through tolerating that. This so-called FAMILY FEUD is non-existent. This is between Bill, VECO and me."

As in the Oct. 3 letter, Anderson reminded Miller of the projects he'd done for Allen, including "working on various politicians' houses and projects for politicians as my supervisor saw fit, of course, processing the labor and supplies through VECO for payment."

A few days later, Allen's lawyer drafted a 10-page "Settlement Agreement and Release of All Claims." Allen and Anderson vowed to neither speak to one another ever again nor discuss their VECO work with any federal, state or local government authorities, including the Internal Revenue Service, Alaska Public Offices Commission and the Federal Election Commission, according to an unsigned draft of the settlement dated Oct. 21, 2005. For signing the document, Anderson says, he was paid $30,000 by Allen's law office. Allen's alleged threats toward Anderson and the $30,000 payout are detailed in a sealed FBI affidavit filed in federal court, according to a lawyer who has seen it.

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In September 2006, FBI agents investigating corruption in Alaska approached Allen and Anderson separately and both men broke their contract. Anderson says he is not charged with a crime, and that an FBI agent he's in contact with has told him he may be called to testify in federal court, should Stevens be indicted.

Meantime, Anderson passes his time with his girlfriend at a cabin up north. He's had trouble finding work because, he claims, his uncle has blackballed him in the oil industry. So Anderson chops wood, runs into town for groceries, and plays games on the computer, waiting to restart his life.

"We're just real people caught in a world of shit," he said.

Tony Hopfinger

Tony Hopfinger was a co-founder and editor of Alaska Dispatch and was editor of Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2015.

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