How Scott Pruitt Used a Shell Company to Buy an OKC Mansion

 

With a growing debate among Oklahomans whether it’s piling on to report the criticism of the way Scott Pruitt has been the administrator of the EPA, there is a report now that is critical of  the way Pruitt did things when he was a state legislator and Oklahoma Attorney General.

The New York Times over the weekend revealed a sweet-heart deal in which Pruitt used his connections to  purchase an historic mansion in Oklahoma City for $100,000 less than what the lobbyist seller had spent buying the place a year earlier.  How did he do it?  Through a shell company created with the help of Pruitt’s friend, an attorney who Pruitt brought with him to be a top aide at the EPA and to also run the agency’s Superfund program.

The issuer of the mortgage was a bank run by another Pruitt ally who also was brought to the EPA—Albert Kelly, a man since banned from working in the banking industry.

As the Times also reported, the purchase of the mansion also was linked to telecom giant SBC Oklahoma, which eventually became ATT, a company that contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Pruitt’s Attorney General campaign, as documented by OK Energy Today.

As the Times also pointed out, there is the possibility that Pruitt violated state ethics laws by not revealing his alleged connections to the shell company.