CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – A former CEO of a South Carolina energy company paid $ 5 million after pleading guilty to federal and state charges linked to a failed nuclear project that deceived investors, and the state is now planning give that money to electricity customers in need.
Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh pleaded guilty in February to federal charges of conspiracy to commit electronic fraud. According to the United States Public Prosecutor’s Office, with the appeal, Marsh admits that he intentionally defrauded taxpayers while supervising and managing the company’s operations, which included the construction of two reactors at the VC Summer Nuclear Station.
Prosecutors said Marsh did this so that SCANA, which has since merged with Dominion Energy, could obtain and retain tax increases applied to SCANA’s customers and qualify for up to $ 2.2 billion in tax credits.
“SCANA relied on the Basic Load Review Act,” said Jim May, US assistant attorney for the District of South Carolina. “The Base Load Review Act was the concessionaire’s ability to finance the project with money of its customers before the units produced energy. ”
“When you have a situation where you divorce the risk of the people who really make the decisions about actually spending the money, that’s when problems like this happen,” Creighton Waters, the chief attorney for the South Carolina State Grand Jury Division at the Attorney General’s Office said.
Marsh’s plea bargain leads him to serve at least two years in prison and pay $ 5 million. This is different from 2019, when electricity customers, who were charged for the construction of the nuclear power plants, received checks as part of a $ 146 million SCANA agreement.
“He received bad information, maybe even lied in the meantime,” said Waters. “However, there came a point in late 2016 when the information reached a critical mass, and so it was his duty to disclose that information. He did not do this and is going to prison for that. “
“They kept derogatory information secret, so that the project could continue. They put the company above their customers, above the public, ”said May.
The $ 5 million he had to pay was under “restitution”, which Cornell Law defines as “a remedy that requires a party that profits from illegal or unlawful acts to give up all profits made as a result of its illegal conduct or unfair The purpose of this remedy is to avoid unjust enrichment. “
“The question we had to analyze was: ‘What was the unjust enrichment?’ Asked May. ‘What we did was an analysis to try to get the eviction as a’ but for ‘analysis. Had it not been for these lies, what would he not have done? It is not exactly the easiest process. “
“Eventually, after careful calculation, all parties agreed that $ 5 million was the fair number to represent that compensation that he did not deserve,” said Waters.
The South Carolina Attorney General now plans to send the funds to the Energy Sharing Program, administered by the state’s Office of Economic Opportunity. The program helps qualified low-income customers, the disabled and the elderly with assistance in paying electricity and natural gas service bills.
“I think all parties agreed that it seemed to be a better use of this transfer and compensation, rather than being deposited in the federal or state treasury,” said Waters.
“We will not object to the allocation of funds to individuals who have suffered as a result of increased accounts,” said May, of the District Attorney of the District of South Carolina.
To learn more about the program, visit the agency’s website. There are also satellite locations across the state.
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