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posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday September 14 2016, @06:04PM   Printer-friendly
from the follow-the-money dept.

The Chicago man who served as a go-between for a local transportation official and a major red light camera company, Redflex, was sentenced Monday to six months in federal prison.

In 2014, Martin O'Malley was the first to plead guilty in the trio of criminal cases involving Redflex. (This Martin O'Malley should not be confused with the former governor of Maryland and Democratic presidential candidate.)

O'Malley was paid $2 million for his services, which was more than anyone on Redflex's official payroll. But according to prosecutors, much of that money was funneled to John Bills, a former managing deputy commissioner at the Department of Transportation and a longtime friend of O'Malley's.

Bills helped steer the City of Chicago to do business with Redflex. Chicago was at one time the company's largest deal worldwide. Since losing the Chicago contract as a result of this corruption scandal, Redflex's 2013 pre-tax profits in its North American division (its corporate parent is an Australian company) plummeted more than 33 percent—from $3.4 million in the first half of 2013 to $2.28 million in the second half.

Pity for O'Malley that the "extremely careless" defense had not yet been invented.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @09:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 14 2016, @09:47PM (#402022)

    The fundamental problem is that the cities are contracting this out and giving the camera operating companies a share in the revenue. This leads to all sorts of obnoxious behavior, including on the part of the city (because, hey, revenue) like shortening yellow light times (often to unsafe levels). Add in the whole "right to face your accuser" part of the US Constitution, and the whole thing tends to be a recipe for disaster.