Alaska Senator Stevens Pleads Not Guilty in Corruption Case

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Raw Video: Sen. Stevens Heads Into Federal Court

Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he lied about accepting more than a quarter of a million dollars worth of gifts. He asked for a trial before he stands for re-election in November.

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Stevens is the highest-profile lawmaker to be indicted in an Alaska political corruption investigation that began in 2004 and has resulted in seven convictions. The investigation of Stevens became public in 2006, when authorities executed search warrants at the offices of six state legislators, including Stevens's son, Ben Stevens, a former state Senate president.

Last year, the federal agents searched Ted Stevens's home in Girdwood, Alaska, which he affectionately called the "chalet," according to the indictment. The papers alleged that Veco employees and contractors jacked up the senator's mountainside house on stilts and added a new floor.

Former Veco chief executive Bill J. Allen, who pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy and bribing public officials, figured prominently in the indictment. In 1999, Allen transferred a new Land Rover worth $44,000 to Stevens in exchange for the senator's 1964 Ford Mustang and $5,000 in cash, according to the indictment.

In exchange for the gifts, Allen and other unnamed Veco officials sought the senator's help with partnerships in Pakistan and Russia, with grants from the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies, and with a variety of other issues, the indictment said.

The indictment, brought by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section, charged Stevens with violations of the Ethics in Government Act.

The law requires elected officials to disclose gifts that exceed a few hundred dollars and debts that exceed $10,000 during any point in the year. Stevens ignored those reporting requirements from 1999 through 2006, the indictment alleged.

Stevens is a larger-than-life figure in Alaska, where his name graces the Anchorage International Airport and he is revered for bringing the state billions of dollars in federal aid. Since 2006, the state has received more than $9 billion from Washington, twice as much as a decade earlier.