COLUMBIA — Jeffrey Alan Benjamin, 62, was sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison after pleading guilty to causing SCANA, a publicly-traded company, to keep false records in connection with the failed V.C. Summer nuclear construction project in Jenkinsville, South Carolina.
Evidence presented to the court showed that Benjamin served as senior vice president for new plants and major projects at the Westinghouse Electric Company and directly supervised all new nuclear projects worldwide during the V.C. Summer project. Westinghouse was the primary contractor on the project, tasked with designing and building two new nuclear units in Jenkinsville.
Evidence revealed that Benjamin’s failure to provide truthful information to SCANA enabled SCANA executives to deceive shareholders, regulators, and ratepayers about the schedule and costs of the new nuclear construction project. In late 2016, confronted with information that the project was delayed and that up to $2.2 billion in federal tax credits were at risk, SCANA executives withheld that information from regulators in an effort to keep the project going. Their false and misleading statements allowed SCANA to obtain and retain rate increases imposed on SCANA’s rate-paying customers.
Benjamin is the fourth and final defendant to be sentenced in this multi-year investigation. Three other executives were previously convicted and have served their respective sentences.
Kevin B. Marsh, former SCANA Corporation chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors, was sentenced to two years in federal prison and ordered to pay a $5 million penalty after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Stephen Byrne, former executive vice president of SCANA and former chief operating officer of South Carolina Electric & Gas Company (SCE&G) was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison and ordered to pay over $1 million after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Carl Churchman, former Westinghouse Electric Corporation vice president and the project director of the V.C. Summer Nuclear project, was sentenced to six months of home detention after pleading guilty to lying to federal investigators.
In addition, in 2021 the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced an agreement securing Westinghouse’s cooperation in the V.C. Summer criminal investigation and payment of $21.25 million for low-income ratepayer relief.
“The defendants in this case did not simply make a corporate error. They intentionally misled, and their dishonesty in the V.C. Summer project caused a great deal of harm to the people of South Carolina,” said U.S. Attorney Adair Ford Boroughs for the District of South Carolina. “This sentence sends a clear message of deterrence to executives and corporations who believe they are above the law: deceit and fraud will be met with accountability and justice.”
United States District Judge Mary Geiger Lewis sentenced Benjamin to 12 months and one day in federal prison to be followed by a two-year term of supervised release. Benjamin was also ordered to pay a $100,000 fine.
This case was investigated by U.S. Attorney’s Office, the FBI Columbia Field Office, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division.
First Assistant United States Attorney Brook Andrews, along with Assistant United States Attorneys Winston Holliday and Emily Limehouse, Trial Attorney Bill Schurmann, and Special Assistant United States Attorney John O’Halloran prosecuted the case.
