Judge denies request for Big Arm felon's records

The Associated Press and The Daily Inter Lake

A federal judge in Anchorage, Alaska, has denied a request for a report prepared for the sentencing of Bill Weimar, a convicted felon from Big Arm who once was Alaska's halfway house kingpin.

Bankruptcy trustee Ken Battley was seeking the financial statement filed last year in Weimar's federal corruption case.

In a ruling last month, U.S. District Judge John Sedwick said the report is confidential.

The Anchorage Daily News reported that Weimar finished his six-month prison term July 2 in Butte at a privately run halfway house - the sort of facility he used to run.

Weimar started and owned halfway house operator Allvest Inc., then sold the bulk of his business in 1998 for more than $20 million. In 2002, Allvest was forced into bankruptcy.

Weimar, a businessman who lives in Big Arm along Flathead Lake, was convicted last year of illegally funneling money to a political consultant for an Alaska state Senate candidate in the 2004 primary, knowing the candidate would back a private prison if he won.

Had the private prison won legislative approval, Weimar would have stood to realize a $5.5 million "contingent interest" in the project, according to federal court documents.

Weimar was the 11th person charged in the broad, ongoing investigation by the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice into political corruption in Alaska.

Weimar admitted sending the unnamed Alaska state Senate candidate's campaign consultant $20,000 without reporting the payments to the state election commission and without routing them through the campaign.

Weimar pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud and illegally manipulating currency transactions to avoid U.S. Treasury Department reporting rules, both felonies.

In addition to the six-month sentence, Weimar was ordered to pay a $75,000 fine.