Former top US Virgin Islands official jailed for bribery and extortionFormer top US Virgin Islands official jailed for bribery and extortion

May 18, 2015 4:14 PM
ST THOMAS, US Virgin Islands, Monday May 18, 2015 – A former executive director of the US Virgin Islands Legislature has been sentenced to five years in prison for bribery and extortion.
 
Louis “Lolo” Willis, 57, was sentenced last Thursday, almost six months after a jury in the Virgin Islands convicted him of four counts of bribery and extortion.
 
Willis was the executive director of the Legislature between 2009 and 2012. His responsibilities included oversight of the major renovation of the Legislature building and awarding and entering into government contracts in connection with the project. Willis was also responsible for authorizing payments to the contractors for their work.
 
Evidence presented during the trial showed that Willis accepted bribes, including $13,000 in cash and cheques, from contractors in exchange for using his official position to secure more than $350,000 in work for them and to ensure they received payment when they were done.
 
One contractor said he wrote a $10,000 cheque that paid for the repaving of Willis’s driveway, and he installed an air conditioner in Willis’ house after he had secured a $2,100 monthly contract maintaining the air conditioning in the Legislature building.
 
A second contractor said he gave Willis an envelope with $3,000 before Willis hired him to remove overgrown tree roots near the Legislature building at a cost of $18,000.
 
Willis had also been charged in relation to a third contractor but the jury did not convict him on the bribery and extortion charges involving that individual.
 
The three contractors received immunity for their testimony in Willis’ trial.
 
The former USVI official is awaiting trial in a separate case of tax evasion.
 
 
 
PHOTO: VIRGIN ISLANDS NEWS DAILY
 

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