Convicted former Montgomery, Ala., bond dealer Bill Blount has been moved to a halfway house to begin a transition toward the end of his federal pay-to-play felony sentence for his role in the sale of bankrupt Jefferson County’s defaulted sewer warrants.
Blount was moved in mid-October to a federal halfway house in Montgomery, according to the Birmingham News.
In May 2010, Blount began serving a plea-bargained sentence of four years and four months for conspiracy and bribery of former Jefferson County Commission president Larry Langford, who orchestrated the sale of the county’s $3.2 billion of now-failed sewer warrants.
Blount forfeited $1 million and was prohibited from having any securities-related or advisory business with a government. His sentence will end in April 2013, apparently shortened for good behavior while in prison, the newspaper said.
Blount’s firm received $7 million in fees from county deals. To get Langford to put him on the transactions, Blount used mutual friend Al LaPierre to deliver money as bribes. LaPierre also entered a negotiated plea to criminal charges.
Langford refused to plea bargain and stood trial in the criminal case. A jury found him guilty on 61 counts of bribery, money laundering, mail and wire fraud, conspiracy, and filing a false tax return. He is still serving a 15-year prison sentence in Kentucky.
Last November, Jefferson County filed the country’s largest municipal bankruptcy because of the sewer debt and the loss of an occupational tax that provided a significant source of revenue to the general fund.
