PORTLAND — A former Oregon Department of Energy official has pleaded guilty to federal charges related to the bribes he received to help arrange the sale of state energy tax credits.
The Oregonian/OregonLive reports Joe Colello pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to charges of money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and filing a false tax return.
Colello, who managed tax credit sales for the department, was accused of accepting nearly $300,000 in bribes from Seattle-based energy consultant Martin Shain.
Federal prosecutors say Shain and Colello set up a business to funnel the bribes and attempted to hide the income.
