COLUMBUS (WCMH) — The company that handled Columbus’ red light camera program will pay restitution of $100,000 to the City of Columbus, the Department of Justice announced Tuesday.
Redflex handled the red light traffic camera program before a state law forced the city to cease issuing citations. Michael Coleman, who was the city’s mayor at the time, announced the termination of the city’s contract with Redflex in July of 2015.
The non-prosecution agreement between the DOJ and Redflex comes after the successful prosecutions of several individuals, including a Columbus lobbyist, a high-ranking city of Chicago official and Redflex’s prior Chief Executive Officer. The federal investigation became public in June 2015 when former Redflex CEO Karen Finley pleaded guilty to bribery charges involving red light camera contracts in Columbus and Cincinnati.
According to federal court documents, Finley admitted that, between 2005 and 2013, she participated in a scheme in which the company made campaign contributions to elected public officials in the cities of Columbus and Cincinnati through a consultant retained by the company.
Finley agreed to provide the conduit campaign contributions with the understanding that the elected public officials would assist the company in obtaining or retaining municipal contracts, including a photo red light enforcement contract with the City of Columbus.
Finley also admitted she and her co-conspirators concealed the true nature and source of the payments by having former Columbus City Hall lobbyist John Raphael submit false invoices for “consulting services.
Raphael later pleaded guilty to extorting campaign contributions through threats of economic harm and was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
A release from the DOJ says Redflex has since initiated substantial additions and changes to its compliance program, policies and procedures. The company also agreed to adopt new policies to ensure that it maintains a rigorous anti-bribery and anti-corruption compliance code, and to install procedures designed to detect and deter violations of such laws.
In 2015, Redflex released the following statement in regards to the investigation:
“Redflex makes a life-saving difference in the communities we serve. Several years ago, after a small number of employees and consultants violated company policies, we took strong corrective action. Local governments continue to engage our company and we intend to lead the industry in how public-private partnerships are managed.”