A federal judge in Anchorage is giving prosecutors more time to decide whether to call a key figure in the corruption retrial of former state lawmaker Vic Kohring.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Beistline granted a request by prosecutors, giving them until September 30 to make arrangements for travel to New Mexico to meet with Allen.
Allen was chairman of a now-defunct oil field services company who pleaded guilty to bribery and tax violations in a corruption probe that ensnared Alaska politicians, including Vic Kohring.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Anchorage has taken over the corruption retrials of both Kohring and Pete Kott.
Last month, several Justice Department attorneys from Washington, D.C., withdrew from the Kott and Kohring cases. The attorneys said in court papers that they had not been involved in the cases since the convictions of Kott and Kohring were overturned and new trials were ordered earlier this year.
The Anchorage office had been recused from a corruption investigation that ensnared Alaska politicians in the late 2000s to avoid potential conflicts of interest.
Kevin Feldis, chief of the office’s criminal division, said the recusal has been lifted.
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